Department for Transport

Railways: Stoke on Trent

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2019 to Question 246956 on Transport: Stoke-on-Trent, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the frequency of daily train services between Stoke-on-Trent and London.

Andrew Jones: The West Coast Partnership is due to be awarded shortly and as per the ITT, the current Inter City West Coast service between London Euston and Stoke on Trent has been protected as a minimum requirement. The incoming franchisee will also be responsible for the implementation of a timetable recast associated with the introduction of HS2 services, which will involve consultation with relevant stakeholders for the provision of future services. There is no change to the overall number of direct LNR trains between Stoke-on-Trent and London Euston in the forthcoming timetable change from 20 May 2019.

Aviation: Safety

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2019 to Question 245611 on Aircraft: Accidents, when (a) he and (b) his ministerial colleagues last had discussions with the football sector on safety and compliance issues in respect of commercial aircraft flights.

Jesse Norman: The Secretary of State and his ministerial colleagues have not had discussions with representatives of the football industry on safety and compliance issues in respect of commercial air flights.

Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern Rail Franchise

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department monitors the number of trains services without an on-board supervisor on the Southern Rail franchise.

Andrew Jones: The Department does not monitor these figures as a matter of course. We do, however, hold recent figures for the proportion of Southern services that have run without an on-board supervisor since the role was introduced in January 2017. These figures demonstrate that the percentage of services running without an on-board supervisor is very low and is decreasing over time. Southern are only able to run services without an on-board supervisor in exceptional circumstances. This reduces the disruption to passengers, as if a conductor was due to work on these services, but is then unavailable, then they would have had to be cancelled.

Railways: Franchises

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions the Department for Transport's Operator of the last Resort has had with existing rail franchise operators on potential changes of ownership of those franchises.

Andrew Jones: The Department monitors all Train Operating Companies closely to ensure delivery of services for passengers, and is in regular discussions with all Train Operators as part of its normal business.

West Coast Partnership Rail Franchise: Pensions

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether First Group has met his Department's criteria on railway pensions as a shortlisted bidder for the West Coast Partnership rail franchise.

Andrew Jones: The Department does not comment on a live competition. All bids received for any franchise competition are evaluated against the requirements and instructions set out in the relevant Invitation To Tender.

Rail Delivery Group: Finance

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the financial contribution of Network Rail to the Rail Delivery Group in each year for which figures are available.

Andrew Jones: Network Rail’s contributions to the Rail Delivery Group is presented in the table below: RDG 18/19 £17/18 £16/17 £15/16 £14/15 £  3,978,375  3,760,000  5,481,932  2,443,500  2,039,000

East Coast Railway Line

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will set out the (a) revenue, (b) growth and (c) investment on the East Coast mainline by successive operators of the route in (i) 2015, (ii) 2016, (iii) 2017 and (iv) 2018.

Andrew Jones: The information requested for Virgin Trains East Coast can be found in the annual reports published on the Stagecoach website. I attach the link for reference: https://www.stagecoach.com/investors/financial-analysis/reports/2018.aspx The part year VTEC accounts for the period 1 April 2018 to 24 June 2018 are due to be published later this year. The audited annual accounts for LNER from 24 June 2018 to 31 March 2019 will also be published later this year.

Railway Signals: Repairs and Maintenance

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of signalling which needs to be renewed across the rail network in (a) Control Period 7, (b) Control Period 8 and (c) Control Period 9; and what estimate he has made of the cost of those renewals.

Andrew Jones: In the first instance it is for Network Rail to consider what signalling renewals are required across the rail network and provide advice to Government and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The ORR will scrutinise Network Rail’s proposals and provide assurance on their cost and deliverability as part of its statutory five-yearly periodic reviews of Network Rail’s outputs and funding.

Northern: Standards

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans respond to the recommendations of Richard George on the resilience of the northern rail network; and what plans he has to implement those recommendations.

Andrew Jones: I recently met with Richard George to discuss his report and recommendations. Decisions on the next steps will be taken in partnership with Transport for the North and the industry.

Railways: Greater London

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer 9 April 2019 to Question 241018 on Durham Coast Railway Line, what assessment he has made of the implications of the reorganisation of Network Rail on those parts of the rail network under the control of the Mayor of London and Transport for London.

Andrew Jones: The Department for Transport welcomes Network Rail’s Putting Passengers First programme and Andrew Haines’ commitment to ensuring that rail works for passengers and freight customers. The Department is continuing to engage with Network Rail as they implement the programme. Network Rail is responsible for engaging all relevant stakeholders in the implementation phase.

Abellio Group and Arriva

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2019 to Question 243472 on Abellio Group, what assurances his Department has received from owning groups (a) Abellio and (b) Arriva that any sale of their UK government rail contracts will ensure future owners have the capacity to honour all commitments including parent company guarantees and performance bonds.

Andrew Jones: The ‘Change of Control’ provisions in the Franchise Agreement give the Secretary of State unlimited right to reject any sale of a franchise such as those owned by Abellio and Arriva. In deciding whether to approve such a sale, the Secretary of State would consider the arrangements in place for securing the same or improved parent company guarantees and performance bond arrangements as currently exist. This consideration would include the financial standing of the new owning group and other elements of their capacity to honour existing commitments.

East Midlands Trains: Pensions

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to Answer of 10 April 2019 to Question 243470, what estimate has he made of the amount of pension risk and liability the Government will be required to share on the East Midlands Trains as a result of the next actuarial valuation of the Railway Pension Scheme taking place December 2019.

Andrew Jones: The 2019 actuarial valuation of the East Midlands section of the Railways Pension Scheme will be performed by the Scheme Actuary, and the outcome will depend on the assumptions used. The Department has taken advice from the Government Actuary’s Department on the potential range of future valuation outcomes.

Railways: Franchises

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2019 to Question 243471 on Abellio Group, what weighting his Department gives to competition considerations and the wider impact on competition across the rail and wider transport industry in the (a) development, (b) design and (c) award of rail franchises.

Andrew Jones: Issues relating to market competition arising from franchise awards are a matter for the winning bidder and the Competition and Markets Authority. As a result, the Department does not weight competition considerations in the development, design or award of rail franchises – the Department focuses on initiatives which will deliver real benefits to passengers, such as additional services, greater capacity and improvements in the customer experience.

East Midlands Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether all three bids for the East Midlands franchise were non-compliant.

Andrew Jones: It was a fair, open competition and Abellio provided the best bid for passengers, in which it demonstrated that it will not only meet but exceed the Department’s specifications In complex procurement processes such as this, it is a matter of course that there may be small technical non-compliances. These include, for example, incorrect font sizes or submitting bids in the wrong format. This does not constitute a material non-compliance which would affect the compliance of the bid as a whole.

Railways: Franchises

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons his Department (a) disqualified Stagecoach from the East Midlands, South Eastern and West Coast Partnership rail franchise competitions on 1 April 2019 and (b) did not inform that company of that decision until 9 April 2019.

Andrew Jones: Entities in which Stagecoach were participating were disqualified from the East Midlands, West Coast Partnership and South Eastern competitions because they chose to submit bids which were not compliant with the requirements of the Instructions To Tender for each competition. Stagecoach were informed of the disqualification as soon as possible after the decision was confirmed.

East Midlands Rail Franchise

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons the East Midlands franchise was awarded to Abellio until 2027 before the conclusion of the Williams review.

Andrew Jones: The government will publish a White Paper setting out how we will implement the Review’s recommendations in the autumn. Reform will start as early as 2020. This does not prevent us taking every opportunity in the short term to improve passengers’ experience.We considered on a case-by-case basis whether to continue with the current franchise competitions and concluded that awarding the East Midlands franchise now would be in the best interests of passengers and taxpayers and would allow planned passenger benefits, such as new trains, to be delivered at the earliest opportunity.

Public Transport: Disability

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that public transportation meets the needs of disabled people in towns and cities.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government is committed to ensuring disabled people, including those with less visible disabilities such as autism, have the same access to transport and opportunities to travel as everyone else. In July 2018 the Department published the Inclusive Transport Strategy. Its ambition is to create a transport system that provides equal access for disabled people by 2030. It is ambitious and comprehensive, and sets a clear direction of travel, helping to create a society that works for all and will enable disabled people in our towns and cities to travel confidently, easily and without extra cost. The Department is making good progress delivering the many commitments set out in the Strategy, and will be reporting to Parliament on this in the summer.

Aviation: Global Positioning System

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department provides to aerodromes on the implementation of GPS approaches.

Jesse Norman: Global Navigation Satellite System approaches need to be approved by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The CAA will provide guidance to aerodromes that are considering the implementation of such approaches. In particular the CAA has produced a framework for the safety cases which need to be produced as part of the approval process.

Aviation: Global Positioning System

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Civil Aviation Authority on the roll-out of GPS technology at aerodromes.

Jesse Norman: The Government has regular discussions with the Civil Aviation Authority concerning the progress of airspace modernisation, and these have included updates on airspace change proposals designed to implement Global Satellite Navigation System approaches at aerodromes.

Aviation: Training

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps are being taken to ensure that pilot training is being adapted to incorporate (a) GPS approaches and (b) other new technologies.

Jesse Norman: Global Navigation Satellite System approaches are one element of performance based navigation (PBN). An amendment to EU Regulation 1178/2011 (the Aircrew Regulation), which came into force in 2018, provides that pilots may only fly in accordance with PBN procedures if they hold an instrument rating with PBN privileges. The Aircrew Regulation establishes the training required to obtain PBN privileges. From 25 August 2020, all applicants for an instrument rating will be required to have undertaken PBN training. Training requirements will be reviewed as and when the carriage and use of other new technologies are mandated. In addition, the Civil Aviation Authority is continuing to engage with the European Aviation Safety Agency to expand training on the use of satellite based technology to help reduce airspace infringements.

East-West Rail Link

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the choice of preferred route for the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway should follow the ecological mitigation hierarchy used (a) by local authorities in preparing local plans and (b) in deciding planning applications in line with the National Planning Policy Framework.

Jesse Norman: The Government take the potential environmental impacts of the Oxford Cambridge Expressway seriously. The National Planning Policy Framework is designed for the local authority-led Town and Country Planning system, which usually deals with much smaller developments. As a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, the Oxford Cambridge Expressway must comply with the (more extensive) requirements of the National Networks National Policy Statement, which are specifically designed to ensure that the impacts of major infrastructure are properly considered and mitigated.

Bramley Station: CCTV

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make representations to Northern Rail to install CCTV equipment at Bramley Station in Leeds in response to reports of increased criminal activity around that station.

Andrew Jones: There is a CCTV camera already installed at Bramley station which now covers the cycle storage, the approach and the car park.

Railways: Compensation

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans on requiring all train operators to introduce automatic compensation for rail delays.

Andrew Jones: The Department requires operators of new franchises to provide automated Delay Repay compensation processes that make claiming swift and simple and is working with the rail industry and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to deliver more automated claims processes across all DfT-let franchises. Since announcing ‘one-click’ compensation in October 2018, the Government has introduced a requirement for new franchises to introduce simple one-click automated claims systems, available via smartphones and smartcard registration, to make it easier for passengers to claim compensation when they have suffered delays. Automated claims processing benefits a broad spectrum of rail passengers whereas automatic compensation schemes only benefit passengers with specific ticket types.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage more people to use low emission vehicles.

Jesse Norman: The Government’s mission is to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles, and for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040. The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has a range of grant-funded schemes to assist with the cost of purchasing ultra low and zero emission vehicles and the installation of charging infrastructure in motorists’ homes, on residential streets, at work places, car parks and the wider public estate.Motorists of zero and ultra low emission vehicle also benefit from a tax regime that rewards the cleanest vehicles. The Government is investing nearly £1.5bn‎ between April 2015 and March 2021, with grants available for plug in vehicles and schemes to support chargepoint infrastructure. The Road to Zero Strategy, published in July last year, sets out a clear pathway to zero emissions, to give clarity and certainty to both industry and motorists.

Roads: Safety

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to reintroduce national road safety targets.

Jesse Norman: The Department has no current plans to reintroduce national road safety targets.There is no robust academic evidence to indicate that the setting of any targets in the UK would contribute to progress in road casualty reduction. In fact there has been a stalling of progress in road casualty reductions across many economically advanced countries, including in countries with targets (e.g. Sweden and the Netherlands).The 2015 Road Safety statement sets out the Department for Transport’s overall principles and priorities in relation to British road safety. Local authorities, the police and other bodies are free to set their own road safety targets if they wish.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Post Office

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many times Ministers in his Department met the Senior Independent Director of Post Office Limited in the last 12 months.

Kelly Tolhurst: As the Special Shareholder of Post Office Limited, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State appoints a Non-Executive Representative to the Post Office board to provide shareholder oversight of the company. In their independent role, it would not be appropriate for Ministers to regularly meet with the Senior Independent Director of Post Office Limited. Generally, ministers have engaged with Post Office Limited, but they have not met the Senior Independent Director of Post Office Limited in the last 12 months.

Horizon 2020

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions the Government has had with the EU Commission on facilitating the UK’s future association with the Horizon Europe programme.

Chris Skidmore: In May 2018, the UK met with the EU Commission to discuss the future UK-EU relationship on science, research and innovation. During this discussion, and throughout our ongoing engagement since that initial meeting, we have made clear that we would like the option to fully associate to the Horizon Europe Programme. The Minister attended Competitiveness Council in February 2019, and hopes to attend the next Competitiveness Council in May 2019 for further constructive discussions about research and innovation with his EU counterparts. Although the UK cannot associate to the future Programme until it has been negotiated and adopted, and only after we have exited the EU, during this period as an EU Member State we are actively engaging in the development of the Horizon Europe proposal at all levels, including through the EU Institutions, in line with UK interests.

Fracking: Earthquakes

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on how many occasions the Government guidelines on earth tremors have been breached by fracking operations in each of the last three years.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Traffic Light System for monitoring induced seismicity was introduced after consideration of advice from three scientists, following operations at Cuadrilla’s Preese Hall site in 2011. The level of magnitude 0.5 at which operators must pause operations, was set in consultation with industry as an appropriate precautionary measure. These regulations have been working as intended and there are no plans to review the traffic light system. Three seismic events, equal or greater than magnitude 0.5, were recorded during pumping operations at Preston New Road between October and December 2018. Following these red traffic light events the operator temporarily paused operations, reduced pressure and monitored for any further seismic events.

Fracking: Earthquakes

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans the Government has to review the guidelines on earth tremors caused by fracking operations.

Kelly Tolhurst: I refer the hon. Member the answer I gave the hon. Member for Lewisham East on 1 May 2019 to Question 247160.

Fracking: Earthquakes

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations his Department has received from (a) fracking companies, (b) environmental groups and (c) the shale gas commissioner on the appropriateness of current guidelines on tremors caused by fracking.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Department routinely receives correspondence from a wide range of stakeholders in relation to the regulatory regime for shale gas extraction, including the traffic light system. The Traffic Light System for monitoring induced seismicity was introduced after consideration of advice from scientists, following operations at Cuadrilla’s Preese Hall site in 2011. The level of magnitude 0.5 at which operators must pause operations, was set in consultation with industry as an appropriate precautionary measure. These regulations have been working as intended and there are no plans to review the traffic light system.

Fuel Poverty: Disability

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to Scope’s report Disability Price Tag 2019, what assessment he has made of the effect of the extra costs faced by disabled people on levels of fuel poverty in the UK.

Kelly Tolhurst: As noted by Scope in their report, we have taken steps to make support accessible to disabled people. This includes expanding the eligibility criteria for the Energy Company Obligation to include those in receipt of Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment.

Service Industries: Migrant Workers

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that non-EU migrants working in the (a) cleaning and (b) hospitality industry receive the statutory rights they are entitled to under UK law.

Kelly Tolhurst: Non-EU migrants working legally in the UK are entitled to the same workplace statutory protections as any other worker. Fair and effective enforcement is central to the Good Work Plan, which sets out the biggest upgrade of employment rights in a generation. Building on existing minimum wage and agency worker enforcement, we are expanding state enforcement to cover holiday payments for the most vulnerable workers and intermediary companies that operate in the agency worker market.Government has taken concrete measures to increase the number of labour market inspectors and extend their coverage. Government has increased funding for HMRC’s enforcement of the National Minimum and Living Wage (NMW) to a record high of £26.3 million for 2018/19.Funding for the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) has also risen in the last two years to reflect the expansion of its remit to tackle labour exploitation. The GLAA now receives over £7m per year in funding, up from £4.5m in 2016/17.The Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate has seen its funding increase from £0.5m in 2016/17 to £0.725m in 2018/19.  These three enforcement bodies continue to ensure workers receive the protections they are entitled to. As well as responding to every complaint they receive, all three undertake proactive, intelligence-led enforcement, targeting employers and sectors where the risks of non-compliance are highest, including in the cleaning and hospitality sectors. Government is also exploring options for a single labour market enforcement body – we will publish proposals on this for consultation shortly. More recently we announced that this consultation will consider extending the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority’s licensing scheme to further sectors and that we will ensure trade unions and businesses are consulted on the strategic direction of labour market enforcement.

Whirlpool Corporation: Tumble Dryers

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has plans to undertake a further investigation into the safety of Whirlpool tumble dryers.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Chief Executive of the Office for Product Safety and Standards met senior Whirlpool officials in Birmingham on 2nd May to discuss their response to the requirements placed upon them by OPSS following the review of Whirlpool’s tumble dryer modification programme. He advised them on steps necessary to fulfil their obligations. The investigation remains on-going as Whirlpool address these requirements.

Trading Standards: Finance

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of recent trends in the level of local authority funding on the ability of trading standards bodies to enforce product safety measures.

Kelly Tolhurst: Government identified the need for national leadership and co-ordination of the product safety system and established the Office for Product Safety and Standards in January 2018 to fulfil this role. The Office has built capability to lead on scientific and technical issues, including commissioning a research programme; set up arrangements to deal with national product safety incidents; and formed a trading standards co-ordination unit to support the work that Local Authorities carry out on product safety in their local areas. We value the important role that Local Authority Trading Standards carry out in enforcing product safety measures, protecting consumers and providing advice to businesses at a local level. Local Authorities are independent from central government and are responsible for their own finances and funding decisions, accountable to their local electorates. As part of its support for Local Authority Trading Standards, OPSS has made available £500,000 per annum to Local Authorities for product safety testing, trained over 650 trading standards staff from 211 Local Authorities and provided scientific and technical support in responding to incidents to increase their capability on product safety regulation.

Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2019 to Question 239920, when his Department plans to publish its response to the consultation on proposed changes to the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988; and if he will make a statement.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Department will publish its response to the 2016 consultation in due course. This is a complex issue and it is absolutely vital that the Government gets this right: we are committed to reviewing these regulations to ensure that the highest levels of fire safety are maintained while minimising risks to health and the environment.

Wind Power: Neighbourhood Development Plans

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many areas in the UK have been designated as suitable for onshore wind in (a) local and (b) neighbourhood plans in England since the Written Statement of 18 June 2015, Official Report 9WS on Local Planning.

Kelly Tolhurst: Sites identified as suitable for onshore wind development can be located in local authorities’ local or neighbourhood plans, all of which are available for the public to view.

Business: Artificial Intelligence

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what guidance his Department has issued to businesses on preparing their workforce for the effect of the introduction of Artificial Intelligence.

Chris Skidmore: The Industrial Strategy sets out the Government’s vision to make the UK a global centre for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data innovation. We have committed to improving the UK's system for training in digital skills and lifelong learning, to ensure that working people have the support they need to benefit from the opportunities offered by automation towards a higher-wage future. Government is in regular discussion with business and business representative organisations, including issues affecting the workforce.The AI Sector Deal brings together commitments from Government, Industry and Academia in a £0.95bn package of support to promote the adoption and use of AI, supported by up to £110 million government investment, which includes: 16 New Centres for Doctoral Training at universities across the country, delivering 1,000 new PhDs over the next 5 years;New prestigious AI fellowships to attract and retain the top AI talent, underpinned by up to £50m of funding agreed at Autumn Budget; andIndustry-funding for new AI Masters places. Government is investing £406 million in maths, digital and technical education, and in the 2018 Autumn Budget, my rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an initial £100 million to start the roll out of the National Retraining Scheme, an ambitious, far-reaching programme to drive adult learning and retraining.

Civil Nuclear Constabulary: Pensions

Martin Whitfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the suitability of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary joining the Alpha Pensions scheme as directed by the Public Service Pensions Act 2013.

Andrew Stephenson: As is the case with other Public Sector employees, the Civil Nuclear Police Authority’s employees will move into the Alpha Pensions scheme. A decision to modify the statutory scheme ultimately rests with HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office. BEIS officials are engaging with all interested parties to provide certainty for CNPA and its staff.

Caravan Sites

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban owners of caravan holiday home parks vetting potential purchasers of those caravans; and if he will make a statement.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Fiskars Group: Regional Growth Fund

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he last assessed that Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton was compliant with the terms of its £5.1million grant from the Regional Growth Fund.

Kelly Tolhurst: As the project remains in monitoring until 2022, the Regional Growth Fund team continue to monitor and discuss project developments with WWRD UK Ltd, as they do with all Regional Growth Fund awards.

Regional Growth Fund: Grants

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has reclaimed grant funds from a successful applicant to the Regional Growth Fund that has been found not to comply with the terms of the grant.

Kelly Tolhurst: Regional Growth Fund awards are monitored to ensure the agreed outcomes of the project are delivered. Any project being undertaken using investment from the Regional Growth Fund must be delivered in full. If a project fails to deliver on what was first proposed, we would recover the appropriate level of grant payment. I can confirm that this has happened on some successful Regional Growth Fund awards.

Fiskars Group: Regional Growth Fund

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the provisions in the Regional Growth Fund grant to Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton (WWRD) to maintain manufacturing jobs on site and the recent announcement of 103 job losses at WWRD, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of that grant award to WWRD.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Regional Growth Fund award to WWRD UK Ltd is monitored for a ten year period until 31 March 2022, as such the Regional Growth Fund team continue to discuss project developments with the Company, as they do with all Regional Growth Fund awards.

Fiskars Group

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Wedgwood Waterford Royal Doulton on (a) their restructure and (b) the effect of that restructure on (i) the UK ceramics manufacturing sector and (ii) their Regional Growth Fund grant award.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Regional Growth Fund team have been in discussions with WWRD UK Ltd regarding the restructure and the effect of the restructure in relation to the Regional Growth Fund grant award. Whilst the Global restructuring of WWRD UK Ltd and the associated job losses at the Barlaston facility is disappointing, with a consequential impact on individual employees and the local economy, I understand high end products, design, product development and global marketing of products will continue to be based in the UK.

Living Wage and Minimum Wage: Non-payment

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2019 to Question 248059, when the review of the NMW Naming Scheme began; and whether it his policy to suspend naming non-compliant employers until that review has concluded.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme and Mineworkers' Pension Scheme

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the total value of the (a) Mineworkers Pension Scheme and (b) British Coal Staff Superannuation scheme.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme valuation conducted by the Government Actuary concluded last year. The market value of the scheme’s assets on 30 September 2017 was £12,241 million. A similar valuation for the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme concluded recently. The market value of the Scheme’s assets on 31 March 2018 was £9,367 million.

Parental Leave

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support shared parental leave.

Kelly Tolhurst: In 2018 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Government Equalities Office funded a £1.5m campaign to raise awareness of the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme amongst parents. This was followed by further communications activity, aimed at employers, in 2019. Both campaigns were underpinned by improved tools and guidance for parents which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/shared-parental-leave-and-pay-guidance-and-tools-for-parents.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what guidance is available to wind farm developers and operatives to help minimise impact on marine life of off shore wind farms.

Kelly Tolhurst: The National Policy Statements for Energy (EN-1) and Renewable Energy (EN-3) set out how the developers of offshore wind farms should consider their impacts on marine life in any applications for development consent for them. Issue specific guidance on minimising the potential impacts of offshore wind farms on marine life is available from the relevant statutory nature conservation bodies [Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee] throughout the planning and development cycles of an offshore wind farm. The potential impacts of proposed projects on marine life and on other relevant issues will be considered in a public examination of any development consent application that is made.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Afghanistan: Sikhs

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of threat to the Sikh community in Afghanistan.

Mark Field: ​Security remains an ongoing challenge in Afghanistan. The Afghan National Defence and Security Forces are committed to tackling this threat. As part of NATO's Resolute Support Mission, the UK supports the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces in its efforts to improve security for all communities.Ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan, including the Christian, Sikh and Hindu communities, continue to face challenges. We regularly raise human rights issues with the Government of Afghanistan, including the need to protect the rights of all ethnic and religious groups in line with the constitution. The UK condemns in the strongest possible terms the targeting of innocent people based on their beliefs. Last year, I publicly condemned the 1 July attack on a group of Sikhs and Hindus in Jalalabad as "a despicable attack on Afghanistan's historic Sikh and Hindu community".

St Helena: Fisheries

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the price for which the Saint Helena Government sold commercial fishing licences to the Argos Fishing Company in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.

Sir Alan Duncan: The sale of commercial fishing licenses is the responsibility of the St Helena Government.

St Helena: Fisheries

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the (a) permitted geographic catch locations and (b) permitted species and catch volumes under licenses sold by the Saint Helena Government to the Argos Fishing Company in (i) 2016, (ii) 2017 and (iii) 2018.

Sir Alan Duncan: The sale of commercial fishing licenses is the responsibility of the St Helena Government.

St Helena: Fishing Vessels

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the income from fishing vessel registration fees paid to the Saint Helena Government by the Argos Fishing Company in the years (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.

Sir Alan Duncan: Any commercial agreements between Argos Fishing company and the St Helena Government are a matter for the St Helena Government.​

St Helena: Fisheries

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the level of subsidy paid to the Saint Helena Fisheries Corporation from the UK public purse in the years (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.

Sir Alan Duncan: Any financial support to the St Helena Fishery Corporation is determined by the St Helena Government.

St Helena: Fisheries

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the terms and conditions are under which fishing licenses are sold by the Saint Helena Government; how conditions on those licences are enforced by the Saint Helena Government; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: The St Helena Government are responsible for selling and administering commercial fishing licences.

Iran: Foreign Relations

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of UK relations with Iran; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK’s relationship with Iran is complex and based on a long history. Maintaining a bilateral relationship with Iran provides an opportunity to hold discussions on a range of issues, including our consular cases, human rights and Iran’s role in the region. We do not agree on everything, and there are many areas in which we have real concerns, but through dialogue we seek to influence Iran’s views on the subject that matter to the UK. I have no plans to make a statement at this time. ​

Cameroon: Human Rights

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the political and human rights situation in Cameroon; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the political and humanitarian situation in Cameroon; and if he will make a statement.

Harriett Baldwin: ​The UK continues to be deeply concerned at the worsening humanitarian situation in the North-West and South-West (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon and the reports of human rights violations and abuses committed by both security forces and separatists. Violence is driving people from their homes, and impacting on the lives of ordinary civilians, particularly women and children. The UK is providing lifesaving assistance to 10,000 people in the Anglophone regions following a £2.5m contribution to UNICEF in December.The British Government regularly raises concerns about the political, human rights, and humanitarian situation with the Government of Cameroon. Further to a phone call in March with Cameroon Prime Minister, Joseph Ngute, on 30 April, I met with the Cameroon High Commissioner to London to reiterate UK concerns. We discussed the plight of the 530,000 people who have been internally displaced within the Anglophone regions, the 32,000 refugees in Nigeria who have fled from the crisis, and the arrest and detention of Opposition Leader, Maurice Kamto and other political actors. I urged the Government of Cameroon to urgently take steps to establish a credible dialogue to tackle the root causes of the crisis in the Anglophone regions, and ensure fair and timely trial, or release, of detainees. The UK continues to call for unhindered humanitarian access to affected populations, and investigations into all reports of human rights violations and abuses. The UK and Austria delivered a joint statement with support from 37 countries on the deteriorating situation in Cameroon at the UN Human Rights Council in March, demonstrating the increasing concerns of the wider international community.

Civil Servants: Training

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increased religious literacy across the Civil Service.

Mark Field: The Government has long held the view that religion plays an important role in the political and social life in many countries throughout the world. The FCO provides a wide range of resources, including though the Diplomatic Academy, to ensure that staff, including those across Whitehall working in our overseas posts, understand the influence that faith can have on foreign policy, and on their specific jobs.

Religious Freedom

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the merits of extending the remit of the review of religious persecution led by the Bishop of Truro to (a) the Department for International Development, (b) the Department for International Trade, (c) the Home Office, (d) the Cabinet Office and (e) the National Security Office.

Mark Field: The Review was commissioned by the Foreign Secretary into the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, so it would be inappropriate for it to review, or make recommendations for, other departments. However, other government departments may wish to take note of the Review report and its findings.

North Korea: Christianity

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of repression of Christians in North Korea.

Mark Field: The UK continues to have grave concerns over the repression of Christians in North Korea. The Bishop of Truro’s interim report as part of his independent review into Christian persecution cites a number of reports on the different forms of persecution faced by North Koreans who seek to practise Christianity outside of state-controlled organisations. There is nothing to indicate the situation is getting better. We raised the lack of freedom of religious belief with the North Korean authorities during their Universal Periodic Review on 9 May. We will continue working with our international partners in the Human Rights Council and elsewhere to hold the North Korean government to account. We continue to urge North Korea to engage positively with the international community on this issue, including through our Embassy in Pyongyang.​

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he plans to take following the decision for Iranian judges to reopen the second court case against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Dr Andrew Murrison: ​We have never seen the charges against Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and are deeply concerned about reports that she faces a further charge. We continue to raise all our dual nationals detained in Iran with the Iranian Government at every opportunity, and make decisions in line with what we believe will produce the best outcomes in their cases. However, we will not be providing a continuous commentary. We judge this will not be helpful, or in the best interest of each case.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that its recent granting of diplomatic protection for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is effective.

Dr Andrew Murrison: ​Diplomatic protection does not automatically dictate any particular course of action. We continue to make further diplomatic representations to the Iranian authorities privately and are continually reviewing what further steps are available to us to help secure the Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release. We will continue to make decisions in line with what we believe is in her best interests.

Arctic: China and Russia

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his (a) Russian and (b) Chinese counterparts on the Arctic.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​Officials from our Embassy Moscow discussed the importance of continued international cooperation in the Arctic with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 6 May. A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) official also attended the Fifth International Arctic Forum in St Petersburg on 9 April. The Head of Polar Regions Department, in the FCO, attended the recent Arctic Council Ministerial meeting in Rovaniemi, Finland and spoke with the Head of the Chinese Delegation on the margins. Officials from the British Consulate-General in Shanghai will attend the Arctic Circle Forum on 10-11 May in Shanghai to further understand China's interest in the region.

Colombia: Human Rights

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the risks to human rights defenders in Colombia.

Sir Alan Duncan: The situation facing human rights defenders in Colombia is concerning: over the past year they have faced increasing levels of threats, intimidation and killings. We regularly express our concern over this issue to the Colombian government. On 9 May the Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon met with Colombian High Counsellor for Stabilisation, Emilio Archila, and directly raised the issue. Our Embassy in Bogotá funds human rights programmes that help human rights defenders, and we work closely with civil society groups to bring individual cases to the Colombian government’s attention.

Hamed bin Haydara

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations at the appeal hearing in the case of Hamed bin Haydara, a Yemeni member of the Baha’i faith sentenced to death by a Houthi court in Sana’a in January 2018, scheduled for 16 June; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We strongly condemn Mr bin Haydara's death sentence and the continued persecution of Baha'is in Yemen for their religious beliefs. We continue to follow the treatment of the Baha’is in Yemen closely, including through meeting their representatives in the UK and lobbying the relevant authorities. We continue to call on the parties to the conflict to respect the human rights of all Yemenis.

Yemen: Capital Punishment

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Houthi regime in Yemen on the use of the death penalty; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The British Government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and in every country, including Yemen. We regularly raise human rights concerns at the highest levels with the Houthi regime.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Bullying

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the number of cases of bullying and harassment that have been recorded against managers in her Department in each of the last five years.

John Penrose: Due to there being fewer than five cases of bullying and harassment recorded against managers in my Department in the last five years, figures cannot be provided in order to protect the privacy and identity of individuals concerned.

Department of Health and Social Care

Blood: Contamination

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what new medical checks his Department has put in place to ensure that no NHS blood supplies are contaminated.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The National Health Service blood supply chain has rigorous safety standards making the United Kingdom blood supply one of the safest in the world. Every donor completes an extensive donor health check questionnaire before each donation. This is designed to identify donors who have a recognisable risk of infection who can then be excluded or subject to further testing. Those considered at risk are asked to defer donation until it is safe for them to do so.All blood donations are routinely tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, HIV, syphilis and for first time donors, human T-lymphotropic virus, before they are sent to hospitals and released into the supply chain. If any blood donation tests positive for infection it is not released into the blood supply chain.NHS Blood and Transplant and the other UK blood services are subject to regular inspections by independent regulators and NHS Blood and Transplant safety policy is formulated by two independent advisory committees; the Joint United Kingdom Blood Transfusion Services Professional Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs. NHS Blood and Transplant, along with the other UK Blood Services, established a UK blood supply surveillance scheme where all hospitals in the UK report, as a condition of their registration, any recognised or unexpected reactions to blood products. This allows constant vigilance to any possible threat to the safety of the blood supply.

Ophthalmic Services: ICT

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to allocate funding to IT connectivity for primary care optical practices to ensure safe and efficient referrals to hospital eye departments.

Seema Kennedy: The Department has no plans to allocate funding to enable IT connectivity between primary care optical practices and hospital eye departments. NHS England is continuing to work with the eye care sector and other key stakeholders on this area of work and will be considering priorities for IT investment later this year.

Public Health: Finance

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of changes in the level of public health budgets on patients’ health.

Seema Kennedy: Local authorities will receive over £3.1 billion in 2019/20 for use on public health. It is for local authorities themselves to determine how best to use these resources based on their assessment of local need and with regard to their statutory duties. This funding is in addition to what the National Health Service spends on preventative interventions such as immunisation and screening, including over £1.2 billion on national public health functions in 2018/19.Public Health England monitors and publishes data on trends for the wide range of indicators of public health set out in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. Most are stable or improving. The framework can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-health-outcomes-framework

Public Health: Finance

Sir Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Spending Review will include targeted investment in public health to improve regional health outcomes.

Seema Kennedy: Local authorities will receive over £3.1 billion in 2019/20 for use on public health. Future funding priorities will be determined through the Spending Review process. In its Long Term Plan, the National Health Service has already committed to strengthen action on prevention and health inequalities. All local health systems will be expected to set out in 2019 how they will reduce health inequalities by 2023/24 and 2028/29.

Hepatitis: Primary Health Care

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve awareness of hepatitis C among primary care professionals.

Seema Kennedy: A variety of initiatives are underway in England to improve hepatitis C awareness and case finding, re-engagement and linkage to care, especially in drug services, primary care, prisons and accident and emergency centres. In addition, NHS England is funding access to new hepatitis C treatments in accordance with guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Public Health England has developed and shared materials with a range of stakeholders, including the voluntary sector, to help raise awareness of hepatitis C infection and highlight the need for those at risk to seek testing and treatment. The resources and materials available comprise of posters, a quiz, social media videos and social banners in a variety of different languages; all of these resources are available online to download or order by healthcare professionals as well as the public themselves.

Blood: Viral Diseases

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of trialling opt-out testing for (a) hepatitis C, (b) HIV and (c) other blood-borne viruses in emergency care settings.

Seema Kennedy: NHS England specialised commissioning does not run a national programme of opt-out screening within emergency care settings. NHS England is aware of some hospital trusts that have implemented an opt-out screening protocol within emergency care settings, but this is not routine practice in all hospitals. Where opt-out is implemented there are posters on display advising patients, attending the emergency department, that they will be tested unless they tell their attending clinician that they want to opt-out and do not wish to be tested.Opportunistic testing for blood-borne diseases may also occur in non-traditional healthcare settings frequently used by people who inject drugs (or used to), such as doctors’ surgeries, community pharmacies, prisons and sexual health centres.

Hepatitis: Disease Control

Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of producing a hepatitis C elimination strategy to support the recently announced NHS England deal to help eliminate hepatitis C.

Seema Kennedy: The Government is committed to meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) target of eliminating hepatitis C by 2030 but there are no plans at this time to publish a strategy to eliminate hepatitis C. A variety of initiatives are underway in England to improve awareness and case finding, re-engagement and linkage to care, especially in drug services, primary care, prisons and accident and emergency centres. In addition, NHS England is funding access to new hepatitis C treatments in accordance with guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).A summary of progress towards achieving the elimination goal was published in 2017 in Public Health England’s report, ‘Hepatitis C in the UK’ at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/632465/HCV_in_the_uk_report_2017.pdfThis showed that the United Kingdom is on target to meet the WHO interim goal of reducing hepatitis C mortality by 10% by 2020. Better access to improved treatment has led to the first fall in deaths from severe hepatitis C related liver disease in a decade.

NHS and Social Services: Migrant Workers

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on ensuring that the recruitment of overseas staff into the (a) NHS and (b) social care sector is not adversely affected by the new immigration framework.

Stephen Hammond: My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions with the Home Secretary on a range of subjects including the future immigration system and its impact on the health and social care sectors.

Mental Capacity

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has in place to ensure that the framework for mental capacity and deprivation of liberty measures are kept under continuous review.

Caroline Dinenage: The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill introduces a new Liberty Protection Safeguards model, which will replace the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. The new model will be set out in a statutory Code of Practice, which will provide guidance to practitioners and individuals. This will include where a deprivation of liberty does and does not apply. The Government has committed to initially reviewing the Code within three years of the new system coming into force and then within five years of any previous review. These reviews will help inform whether the system is working as intended.

Nurses: Pay

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to ensure the adequate remuneration of nurses at all pay bands.

Stephen Hammond: In June 2018 we agreed the Agenda for Change three year pay and contract reform deal which will see nearly one million National Health Service workers benefit over three years.The deal gave all staff, including nurses in all pay bands, a pay rise of at least 3% for 2018/19. Over the course of the three years, nurses at the top of their pay band will receive a total pay increase of 6.5% and those below the top of their pay band, due to reforms to the pay structure (higher starting pay and fewer pay points), will see pay rises of between 9% and 29%.The basic pay for a newly qualified nurse will rise from £22,128 to £24,907 over the three years.In addition to basic pay, nurses are paid for working unsocial hours and an additional allowance if they work in and around London. The average earnings of a qualified nurse as at December 2018 was £32,280.The deal was negotiated and agreed with the NHS trade unions and supported by the independent NHS Pay Review Body.

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2019 to Question 244142 on Cannabis: Medical Treatments, whether his Department defines Naboline as a cannabis imitating rather than cannabis derived product.

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2019 to Question 244142 on Cannabis: Medical Treatments, when (a) Naboline and (b) Savitex were first made available to prescribe on the NHS.

Seema Kennedy: The Department recognises both Nabilone and Sativex as licensed cannabis-based medicines. Neither, however, falls within the scope of the definition of a ‘cannabis-based product for medicinal use’ under the recent change to the law.Nabilone is a synthetic non-natural cannabinoid that mimics delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It was issued a marketing authorisation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), for nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy in patients who have failed to respond adequately to conventional antiemetic treatments, on 14 February 1995. There are no restrictions on its prescribing in the National Health Service.Sativex (nabiximols) is an oromucosal spray that contains THC and cannabidiol (CBD). It was issued a marketing authorisation by the MHRA, for treatment of spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis who have failed to respond adequately to other anti-spasticity medications, on 16 June 2010. In October 2014, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended that Sativex is not offered for use on the NHS because it is not a cost-effective treatment. Sativex therefore is not routinely prescribed on the NHS, and can only be prescribed for an individual patient, where local governance and funding arrangements allow for this.

Cannabis: Medical Treatments

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2019 to Question 244142 on Cannabis: Medical Treatments, whether his Department is aware of any instances of (a) CBD and (b) THC being prescribed by the NHS since 1 January 2019.

Seema Kennedy: The published data shows that the following number of items of Nabilone (a synthetic product which mimics tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)) and Sativex (a product containing natural THC and cannabidiol (CBD)) were dispensed in January and February 2019.  Number of prescription items January 2019February 2019Nabilone4436Sativex167159 Data, from the NHS Business Services Authority for January and February 2019, suggest that three National Health Service prescriptions were dispensed for unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use in primary care in England during this time. Additionally, the NHS Business Services Authority data report that 10 private prescriptions were dispensed for unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use in January and February 2019. Unlike NHS primary care where all dispensed prescriptions are processed centrally, this is not the case for secondary care. This information is collected by a third party and not routinely published.

Eating Disorders

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to enforce NICE guidance on Eating disorders: recognition and treatment, to ensure that people with a healthy BMI are not denied treatment for an eating disorder.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on ‘Eating disorders: recognition and treatment’ makes it clear that a person’s Body Mass Index is just one of the factors that should be taken into account to determine whether to offer treatment for an eating disorder, but that it should not be used on its own. Clinical commissioning groups and providers of healthcare are expected to have regard to national guidance and are responsible for developing their own local approaches to its implementation taking into account local priorities and needs.

Asthma: Air Pollution

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the recent trends in air quality on the well being of people with a diagnosis of asthma across the UK.

Seema Kennedy: Short-term peaks of air pollution are associated with a range of adverse health effects including exacerbation of asthma.Public Health England (PHE) has not made any specific assessment of the impact of air pollution on the well-being of people with asthma diagnosis, across the United Kingdom.PHE is continuously developing and reviewing the evidence on the health effects of air pollution, to help reduce the health burden attributable to air pollution in England, for the general population and vulnerable groups, including those suffering from asthma. Examples of this can be seen at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-air-pollution/health-matters-air-pollutionhttps://www.gov.uk/government/groups/committee-on-the-medical-effects-of-air-pollutants-comeapPHE will start a project in September 2019 to examine any associations in seasonal variation of fungal spores with asthma incidence that may also consider pollution levels.

Asthma: Medical Treatments

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with a diagnosis of asthma have access to the medication required to deal with that condition.

Seema Kennedy: As set out in the Long Term Plan, pharmacists in primary care networks will undertake a range of medicine reviews for asthma patients, including – patient education on inhaler use; encouraging uptake of dry powder inhalers where clinically appropriate; and the uptake of new smart inhalers and other treatments as clinically indicated.

Psychiatry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the imbalance between London and the rest of England in the number of psychiatrists per head of population.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The allocation of training places/posts in psychiatry is determined centrally by Health Education England’s (HEE’s) workforce planning team. Training allocations are normally based on historical allocations, adjusted by weighted capitation and other factors such as deprivation and health inequalities.As part of the workforce strategy ‘Facing the Facts, Shaping the Future’, HEE is looking at incentives to retain the workforce outside of London. For example, some areas offer Fellowships for Specialist and Associate Specialist doctors or Foundation doctors that include support for schooling and housing together with a package of education support and guaranteed employment for two to three years.In the NHS Long Term Plan, HEE and its partners have committed to developing further incentives to ensure that the specialty choices of trainees meet the needs of patients by matching specialty and geographical needs, especially in primary care, community care and mental health services.

General Practitioners: Students

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that university students have access to a GP outside of term time.

Seema Kennedy: In the event that students cannot access their usual university general practitioner (GP) outside of term time then they can receive care by registering as a temporary resident elsewhere.Guidance has recently been issued by NHS England for GP practices on registering temporary residents. This is part of the 2019/20 guidance and audit requirements for the General Medical Services contract, and can be viewed at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/gp/gpfv/investment/gp-contract/

NHS: Fees and Charges

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure that patients who are not eligible for free NHS treatment are charged the relevant fee; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: Under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Amended) Regulations 2017, providers of National Health Service secondary funded care are required by law to make and recover costs from patient who are not ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom where no category of exemption applies. In cases where treatment is non-urgent, providers are required to recover costs in advance of treatment.In order to assist providers in doing this, the Department has issued guidance to providers of NHS funded secondary care ‘Guidance on implementing the overseas visitors charging regulations’ which set out the rules and best practices processes to follow to recover costs for treatment, including identifying those who may be chargeable and ensuring they are charged the relevant fee. This includes identifying those patients whose treatment costs may be subject to reciprocal healthcare arrangements, including the European Health Insurance Card. The national guidance sets out that those patients who are identified as chargeable must be charged using either the national tariff or a locally agreed tariff if there is no national tariff for the treatment provided.

Health Services: Artificial Intelligence

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to businesses in the healthcare sector on preparing their workforce for the effect of the introduction of Artificial Intelligence.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department is leading on the Prime Minister’s Mission to ‘Use data, Artificial Intelligence and innovation to transform the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases by 2030.’ We hope that as we work towards this overall goal, we can ensure that patients experience better care, clinicians deliver better care, commissioners are better able to commission data-driven technologies and the United Kingdom is a great place to do business in artificial intelligence for health and care.We are working in partnership with organisations across the National Health Service, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Office for Life Sciences, Office for Artificial Intelligence and Better Regulation Executive to engage with businesses in the sector so that we benefit from the potential for artificial intelligence to improve care, deliver better outcomes, contribute to efficiency in the health and care system and contribute to the wider economy. In September 2018, we published the Code of Conduct for Data-Driven Health and Care Technology, which clearly sets out the behaviours we expect from those developing artificial intelligence and related technologies. The Code was updated in February 2019 based on feedback, including from industry partners, and we are working with them to develop case studies showing good practice in complying with the Code. We are also developing tools to help businesses comply the Code of Conduct.We are also working closely with Health Education England as they follow through on the recommendations made by the Topol Review ‘Preparing the healthcare workforce to deliver the digital future.’In March 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published its Evidence Standards Framework for Digital Health Technologies, outlining the evidence required by businesses to demonstrate the effectiveness and economic impact of digital health technologies.

Mental Health Services: Wirral

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to mental health services for (a) adults, (b) children and (c) young people in Wirral.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department has made no such assessment. Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for ensuring adequate provision and access to mental health services for their local populations. Following a detailed procurement exercise, Wirral Health and Care Commissioning appointed a new provider for its Improving Access to Psychological Therapies service which commenced in April 2019. The service is available for those over 18 experiencing common mental health problems.Wirral Health and Care Commissioning is also working with local providers to look at areas of transformation needed to reduce the waits and improve patient experience and access in secondary care, for children and young people and adults. This will include crisis care and physical health in serious mental illness.In its Long Term Plan, the National Health Service has committed to test and roll out comprehensive waiting time standards for adults and children over the next decade. This builds on existing waiting times targets for psychological therapies, and for treatment for first episode psychosis and children and young people with eating disorders, which are all being met or on track for delivery by 2020/21 in line with previous commitments.

NHS: Migrant Workers

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the number of EU nationals who have left their jobs at (a) NHS England and (b) Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the last (i) year, (ii) two years and (iii) three years.

Stephen Hammond: The following table shows the number of EU27 leavers from NHS England as at September each year since 2015 and to January 2019, headcount. Leavers from NHS EnglandSeptember 2015 - September 201619September 2016 - September 201714September 2017 - September 201841September 2018 - January 201930Source: Electronic Staff RecordNHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.The following table shows the number of EU27 leavers from Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as at September each year since 2015 and to January 2019 (the latest data), headcount.Time periodLeavers from Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSeptember 2015 - September 2016253September 2016 - September 2017341September 2017 - September 2018362September 2018 - January 2019138Source: National Health Service HCHS monthly workforce statistics, NHS DigitalNotes:The total number of EU27 nationals leaving each organisation is smaller than the total number of EU27 nationals who joined between September 2015 and September 2018.Nationality is self-reported.Leavers data from Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust may include staff that have left to join other NHS trusts.Leavers data includes people leaving active service temporarily, this would include those going on maternity leave or career break.

Ovarian Cancer

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the incidence of ovarian cancer; and if he will make a statement.

Seema Kennedy: Prevention is a key focus of the NHS Long Term Plan, which sets out plans to tackle risk factors for cancer such as obesity, alcohol consumption and smoking. This will have a significant impact on improving health, including for those who are at risk of developing ovarian cancer. Over the next 10 years the National Health Service will extend the use of molecular diagnostic testing and routine offering genomic testing to all patients with cancer for whom it would be of clinical benefit.From 2019 we will start the roll-out of new Rapid Diagnostic Centres across the country to upgrade and bring together the latest diagnostic equipment and expertise, building on 10 models piloted with Cancer Research UK, which have focused on diagnosing cancers where patients often present with non-specific symptoms, often the case with ovarian cancer, and may go to their general practitioner many times before being sent for tests, such as blood and stomach cancers.

Ovarian Cancer

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the treatment of ovarian cancer; and if he will make a statement.

Seema Kennedy: The NHS Cancer Programme is committed through the NHS Long Term Plan to improve access to treatments for all cancer patients and reduce health inequalities. Cancer Alliances are working with local sustainability and transformation partnerships and integrated care systems to reduce variation on patient outcomes and experience.

Autism: Diagnosis

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Care of 8 May 2019, Official Report, column 432, when the data on autism diagnosis waiting times will be published.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department is determined to drive up performance on autism diagnosis nationally. To support this NHS Digital began formally collecting autism diagnosis waiting time data from mental health provider trusts for the first time through the Mental Health Services Data set in April 2018. Data is submitted on behalf of autism diagnostic services, in line with issued guidance. We expect to publish a report after a year’s data has been collected and analysed, this autumn. As this is the first time this data is being submitted some work to improve its quality may be necessary.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Death

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many deaths were caused by Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in affected areas in England during the air pollution episode in April 2019; and what comparative assessment he has made of the figures for that period with (a) expected average and (b) average over the last five years.

Seema Kennedy: According to the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) there were ‘moderate’ to ‘very high’ levels of air pollution in some areas of the United Kingdom between 7 and 8 April and between 15 to 25 April 2019. The figures for deaths caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in this period are not available in the requested format and a comparative assessment has not been made.In January 2019 the Government launched the Clean Air Strategy, which sets out plans for dealing with all sources of air pollution to save lives, protect nature and boost the economy.

Food: Labelling

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department is making on introducing comprehensive calorie labelling for food and drink served out of the home; and when his Department plans to publish the results of the consultation on that matter, which closed on 25 October 2018.

Seema Kennedy: The consultation on calorie labelling for food and drink served outside of the home took place between 14 September and 7 December 2018. We will publish the results and set out the timetable for further action later this year.

NHS: Vacancies

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS positions were vacant as of 30 April 2019 (a) in Yorkshire and (b) at Bridlington hospital.

Stephen Hammond: The data is not available in the format requested.NHS Improvement produces statistics on the number of vacancies for each trust in England. The vacancy statistics are published at the regional level of North, Midlands and East, London and South. The published data is not available at the county level of Yorkshire or Bridlington hospital.The latest NHS Improvement report can be found in the following link:https://improvement.nhs.uk/documents/4942/Performance_of_the_NHS_provider_sector_for_the_quarter_ended_31_Dec_2018.pdf

Obesity: Children

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2019 to Question 249880, which local authorities have received funding to deliver the trailblazer programme.

Seema Kennedy: The local authorities that have gone through to the discovery phase of the Trailblazer Programme and received funding are: - Bath and North East Somerset Council;- Birmingham City Council;- Blackburn with Darwen Council;- City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council;- London Borough of Havering;- London Borough of Lewisham;- Middlesbrough Council;- North Tyneside Council;- North Yorkshire County Council;- Nottinghamshire County Council;- Peterborough City Council;- Rochdale Borough Council; and- Walsall Council. The next phase of the Trailblazer Programme begins early this summer when five authorities will be selected from this list to take forward their plans to address childhood obesity at local level over the next three years.

NHS: Drugs

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018, how many times his Department has sought information relating to bespoke medicines from small producers with an annual NHS turnover of less than £5 million; and whether he plans to make an assessment on the potential merits of requiring all small producers to automatically supply quarterly information on those medicines.

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018, what criteria his Department uses to decide on which small producers to seek information from.

Seema Kennedy: The Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018 (the Regulations) prescribe when manufacturers, importers and wholesalers of special medicinal products are required to provide information. Since the Regulations entered into force, quarterly information has been received in November 2018 and February 2019 and information is again due at the end of May 2019. The requirement to provide quarterly sales, purchase and volume information about special medicinal products already applies to all manufacturers, importers and wholesalers regardless of their size. Therefore, there is no need for an assessment on the potential merits of requiring all small producers to automatically supply quarterly information.

NHS: Drugs

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) wholesalers and (b) importers are providing his Department with information on medicines.

Seema Kennedy: The Department is undertaking an exercise to ensure that all companies that are required to provide quarterly information under the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018 (the Regulations) are doing so. Where they are not, the Department will consider taking the appropriate action provided for in the Regulations.

NHS: Drugs

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to use the powers set out in the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018 to seek information on the special health service medicine selected yy medical professional bodies.

Seema Kennedy: The Department selects medicines to be included in the quarterly collection of information on special medicinal products based on the level of prescribing. If medical professional bodies have selected special medicinal products that they believe should be included with a reimbursement price in Part VIIIB of the Drug Tariff then the Department will consider including those products in the quarterly collection, but only if those products are prescribed in primary care. If products are not prescribed in primary care then there is no sales, purchase and volume information for special medicinal products supplied to primary care that can be provided by suppliers in the quarterly information collection.

Mental Health Inter-ministerial Group

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2019 to Question 214539 on Mental Health Inter-ministerial Group, on what date the inter-ministerial group for mental health last met; and what items were on the agenda.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The inter-ministerial group for mental health met on 29 April 2019. The agenda included discussion on the progress of the Government’s existing mental health commitments and new challenges going forward.

Medical Records: Databases

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2019 to Question 247544, if the Government will conduct a review of its policy of charging commercial, public sector and charitable organisations to access patient data.

Jackie Doyle-Price: As stated in response to Question 247544, organisations may seek to recover the costs of processing and providing data. This position remains under review.

Pregnancy: Screening

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to maternal and neonatal outcomes of offering 36 week ultrasound scans to identify breech babies.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Quality Standard relating the best antenatal care (QS22) states that women with a suspected breech presentation at 36 weeks or later should be referred for confirmatory ultrasound assessment. Quality Standard 22 was published in September 2012 and was most recently updated in April 2016.Quality Standards are important in setting out to patients, the public, commissioners and providers what a high-quality service should look like in a particular area of care. Whilst providers and commissioners must have regard to NICE QSs in planning and delivering services, they do not provide a comprehensive service specification and are not mandatory.

Hospitals: Discharges

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of people discharged or transferred under the Transforming Care programme were readmitted to in-patient facilities within (i) one month, (ii) three months and (iii) one year of their discharge.

Caroline Dinenage: Figures for inpatient admissions within the month by admissions status are attached. Admission status is calculated for all admissions within the period and looking to see if the patient had previously been receiving inpatient care. It provides information for readmissions in the last 30 days, 90 days and within the last year. The Assuring Transformation collection covers England, but includes patients whose care is commissioned in England and provided elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Data is submitted monthly so coverage varies month-on-month. Therefore, caution should be taken when interpreting the data.



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Hospitals: Discharges

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many discharges under the Transforming Care programme were delayed due to inadequate funding for an alternative placement in each 12-month period between March 2015 and March 2019.

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) number and (b) value of payments made by NHS bodies to local authorities under the Transforming Care programme to support patients discharged in each 12-month period was between March 2015 and March 2019.

Caroline Dinenage: The information on delayed discharges is not held in the format requested. NHS Digital routinely publishes the number of delayed discharges in relation to the Transforming Care programme in their monthly Assuring Transformation (AT) publication which can be found at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/learning-disability-services-statisticsThe most recent AT data indicates that in March 2019, there were 105 delayed discharges.The AT data includes the reason for discharge. In March 2019 the reason for a delayed discharge was as follows:Reason for delayed dischargeNumber of inpatients*Lack of agreed health care funding10Lack of agreed social care funding15Awaiting non-acute NHS care5Awaiting residential home30Awaiting nursing home0Awaiting care package in own home10Awaiting community equipment0Patient or family choice10Lack of local health provision10Lack of social care support20Lack of suitable housing provision40Other reason for delay50Total delayed discharges105 Note:* The reasons do not sum to the total number of delays as there may be multiple reasons assigned.NHS England does not hold information on the number and value of payments made by NHS bodies to local authorities under the Transforming Care programme to support patients discharged in each 12-month period between March 2015 and March 2019.

Hospitals: Discharges

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, under the Transforming Care programme how many patients have died prior to discharge in each 12-month period between March 2015 and March 2019.

Caroline Dinenage: The following patient deaths were recorded in the Assuring Transformation dataset between March 2015 and March 2019: YearNumber of patient deaths*1 March 2015 - 31 March 2016151 April 2016 - 31 March 2017151 April 2017 – 31 March 2018101 April 2018 – 31 March 201910  Total number of deaths**45 Notes:* These figures are rounded and so the total does not equal the sum of the individual years.** There are an additional four patients known to NHS England but not recorded in Assuring Transformation data. NHS England does not have a date of death for these cases.

Hospitals: Discharges

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, under the Transforming Care programme how many patients have had discharge dates set which have now passed without the patient being discharged.

Caroline Dinenage: NHS Digital routinely publishes the number of delayed discharges in relation to the Transforming Care programme in their monthly Assuring Transformation (AT) publication which can be found at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/learning-disability-services-statisticsThe most recent AT data indicates that in March 2019, there were 105 delayed discharges.

Public Health: Finance

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Consensus Statement, published by Cancer Research UK on 7 May 2019, what assessment he has made of the implications of that statement for his Department's policy on ensuring that there is a sustainable funding solution for public health services provided by local authorities.

Seema Kennedy: Local authorities will receive over £3.1 billion in 2019/20 for use on public health. It is for local authorities themselves to determine how best to use these resources based on their assessment of local need and with regard to their statutory duties. This funding is in addition to what the National Health Service spends on public health, which included over £1.2 billion in 2018/19 on national public health programmes such as immunisations and screening. Future funding arrangements for local authorities’ health duties will be considered carefully in the next spending review, in the light of all the available evidence.

Department for International Development

South Asia: Disaster Relief

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) India and (b) Bangladesh on support for regions affected by Cyclone Fani.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK closely monitored Cyclone Fani as it advanced towards and hit both India and Bangladesh. Using existing crisis mechanisms, both countries’ governments have led on the preparedness and response. The UK has not received any formal requests for support from either Government. No discussions have been held between the International Development Secretary and the Government of Bangladesh in response to this situation. The DFID Bangladesh team was, however, in close contact with the Government during and immediately following Cyclone Fani. Given the Government response and the limited impact of the cyclone in Bangladesh, the Government did not seek funding or other help from DFID.

Gambia: Overseas Aid

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what country-specific direct support is his Department providing to The Gambia to (a) support economic development and (b) strengthen democratic institutions in that country.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK’s bilateral country programme in The Gambia closed in 2012 and since then we have supported the country through our funding to regional and thematic programmes and multilateral partners. Our support for the economic development agenda includes part-funding the IMF’s technical assistance to The Gambia on revenue mobilisation, public financial management, monetary policy, financial sector regulation and national statistics, as well as our core contributions to the World Bank and African Development Bank’s work. On strengthening democratic institutions, Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK are delivering a programme of training and mentorship to the Gambian National Assembly from UK funding.

Yemen: Cholera

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support his Department is providing to help victims of Yemen’s cholera epidemic.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK is deeply concerned about the rise in cholera in Yemen this year, with a suspected 280,000 cases recorded between January and April 2019. In response, the UK has disbursed £18 million last month to help UN agencies meet their most urgent needs such as chlorination of water supply systems, distributing hygiene kits and deploying expert teams to areas most at risk. To help prepare for outbreaks of cholera, the UK led a joint Met Office, NASA and US scientist team to accurately predict where the disease will spread to in Yemen. We contributed 25% towards the cost of cholera vaccination campaigns which have vaccinated over 2 million people in both Houthi and Government of Yemen controlled areas to date.

Yemen: Humanitarian Aid

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that international humanitarian funds pledged to Yemen reach their intended recipients.

Harriett Baldwin: We are acutely aware of the difficult operating environment humanitarian organisations face delivering life-saving assistance in Yemen. As a result we only channel support through organisations with a strong record of delivering and monitoring assistance, such as UN agencies and international NGOs.To identify the most vulnerable, UN agencies use a range of tools such as household level assessments. Some, like the World Food Programme, use technology such as biometric verification to confirm that those most in need are being reached.Through UK diplomatic channels we press authorities to facilitate aid delivery. This can include getting visas issued or travel permission granted for certain areas.Earlier this year the UK brought together heads of UN agencies and lead donors to determine how to better coordinate on the ground to deliver the right interventions at the right time to the most vulnerable. The Humanitarian Coordinator is holding UN agencies to account to deliver this.

Department for International Development: Bullying

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate he has made of the number of cases of bullying and harassment that have been recorded against managers in his Department in each of the last five years.

Harriett Baldwin: The number of cases of bullying that have been recorded against managers in DFID was less than 5 in each of the last 5 years. No cases of harassment were recorded against DFID managers in 2014 to 2016. Less than 5 cases were recorded for both 2017 and 2018.

CDC

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the joint response from the CDC group and DFID to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s recommendations on CDC’s investments in low-income and fragile states of March 2019, if he will publish the independent review of progress achieved against CDC’s strategic objectives before the end of its current strategy cycle.

Harriett Baldwin: DFID will commission an external assessment in 2020 to evaluate results and learn lessons across all aspects of CDC’s current strategy (2017-2021). The review’s findings will be published.

CDC: Staff

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the joint response from the CDC Group and the Department for International Development to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s recommendations on CDC’s investments in low-income and fragile states, published in March 2019, how many full-time staff CDC plan to have by the end of 2019 in each of its offices outside of the UK.

Harriett Baldwin: CDC plans to have a total of 50 staff members based outside the UK by the end of 2019. A breakdown by country is given below.Bangladesh:2Ethiopia:1Egypt:1India:27Kenya:5Myanmar:1Nepal:1Nigeria:3Pakistan:2S Africa:6Zimbabwe:1

Developing Countries: Climate Change

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of climate change on his Department's aid (a) strategy and (b) funding.

Harriett Baldwin: Tackling climate change is a priority for the UK Government and for the Department for International Development (DFID), and we are already providing significant assistance to developing countries to help them deal with climate change. It is clear however that the world is not on track to avoid dangerous climate change and environmental damage. The Secretary of State wants to see what more we can do with the UK’s aid budget and how we can encourage others to take more action. The UN Climate Action Summit in September is a critical moment to increase global ambition and I am pleased that the UK playing a leading role in shaping the agenda on how to build resilience to cope with climate change already locked in.

East Africa: Storms

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to support the recovery of (a) Mozambique, (b) Comoros and (c) Tanzania following the effects of Cyclone Kenneth in those countries.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government recognises the devastating impact of Cyclone Kenneth and has moved quickly to respond. In Mozambique, which has suffered the worst effects, we have supported the provision of emergency shelter, health and sanitation to the worst-affected populations with an emergency grant of £3m; we are now assessing options for further assistance. In Comoros the UK does not have a permanent presence and we are therefore deferring to partners. The main platform for relief has been the UN CERF Facility, to which the UK is the largest donor. In Tanzania the cyclone had limited impact and we are not planning specific additional assistance.

Department for Education

Vocational Guidance: Disability

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve careers advice for young adults with learning difficulties and disabilities.

Anne Milton: The careers strategy, published in December 2017, includes proposals to improve the quality and coverage of careers advice in schools. For example, the Careers & Enterprise Company and the Gatsby Foundation have developed a toolkit containing tips for schools and employers to help them support young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This is available at the following link: http://www.talentinocareers.co.uk/send-gatsby-benchmark-toolkit.pdf.The Careers & Enterprise Company has awarded £1.7 million to 20 organisations to support some of the most vulnerable young people to help them prepare for the world of work. This is targeted at programmes supporting disadvantaged groups including those with SEND), looked after children and care leavers and young people from gypsy, Roma and traveller communities. Projects include tailored careers support in Sussex for young people with SEND and their parents and a partnership that helps young people with autism to engage with local employers and learn about the technical routes available to them in Leeds. The National Careers Service provides free, up to date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market in England. It offers face-to-face advice, a helpline with web chat, text and telephone support and a website which gives customers 24-hour access to information and advice. All services are available to adults aged 19+ and young people aged 13 to 18 can use the website and helpline. People with learning difficulties and disabilities are a priority group for face-to-face advice and the National Careers Service are very experienced in providing support to vulnerable groups. Just over a fifth (22%) of National Careers Service face-to-face customers have a disability, which is higher than in the general population (18%).[1] [1] Summer 2017 equality analysis of the National Careers Service.

Speech and Language Disorders: Training

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to ensure that staff working in an education setting are trained in awareness of speech, language and communication needs.

Nick Gibb: The Department is investing £50 million to develop more high quality school-based nursery provision for disadvantaged children, £26 million to set up a network of English hubs, and £20 million to provide school-led professional development for early years practitioners. The Department is reviewing the current special educational needs and disability (SEND) content in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) provision and building on our existing SEND specialist qualifications to develop a continuum of career development from ITT, through teachers’ early careers and into specialist and leadership roles. Since the introduction of the 2014 SEND reforms, the Department has provided funding to a range of condition-specific organisations to develop resources and training to deliver high quality teaching across all types of SEND. This includes specialist resources in relation to speech, language and communication skills. The Department currently funding nasen and University College London, on behalf of the Whole School SEND consortium, to deliver a programme of work that will equip the workforce to deliver high quality teaching across all types of special educational needs. New SEND regional leads will bring together practitioners and networks in their local area to build a Community of Practice, including local speech, language and communications champions.

Marriage Guidance: Finance

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding for grants for purposes set out in section 22 of the Family Law Act 1996 has been allocated in each financial year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not held centrally. The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for relationship support.

Fossil Fuels: Universities

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to encourage universities to divest from global coal, oil and gas companies.

Chris Skidmore: Universities are autonomous from the government, so we do not specifically encourage them to divest from global coal, oil and gas companies. The government is committed to supporting the effective management of climate-related financial risks, and we have endorsed the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

Students: Loans

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made on the introduction of sharia-compliant student loans.

Chris Skidmore: The government remains committed to introducing an Alternative Student Finance product. Details on implementation will follow the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding which will conclude this year.

Pupil Exclusions

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Statement of 7 May 2019 on the Timpson review of school exclusions, if it is his policy to make schools accountable for pupils who leave their rolls only through permanent exclusions.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Statement of 7 May 2019 on the Timpson review of school exclusions, whether his consultation on making schools accountable for the outcomes of pupils that they exclude will include accountability for pupils who leave school rolls other than by permanent exclusion.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Ofsted’s report entitled Safeguarding children and young people in education from knife crime published in March 2019, if he will extend the requirement for schools to collect data on permanent and fixed-term exclusions to require schools to collect data on managed moves.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Statement of 7 May 2019 on the Timpson review of school exclusions, what sanctions (a) are currently in place and (b) will be put in place where schools or multi-academy trusts are found to have off-rolled pupils.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his Statement of 7 May 2019 on the Timpson review of school exclusions, whether his commitment to establishing a practice programme to drive better partnership will include requiring multi-academy trusts to work with local authorities.

Nick Gibb: As noted in the Government response to Edward Timpson’s review of school exclusion, the Government will make schools accountable for the outcomes of permanently excluded children. Over the summer, the Department will work with education leaders to design a consultation, to be launched in the autumn, on how to deliver these reforms in practice. Among other things, the Department will seek views on how to mitigate the potential unintended consequences Edward Timpson has identified in his review, including how to tackle the practice of ‘off-rolling’.Ofsted already considers records of children taken off roll and has recently consulted on proposals that will see a strengthened focus on this issue, and has proposed that where inspectors find off-rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report, and where appropriate will lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate. Ofsted will publish the outcome of its consultation soon.As in the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) regulations 2006 as amended, state schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register as soon as the ground for deletion under regulation 8 in relation to that pupil is established. The Department will provide guidance on the use of ‘managed moves’, as recommended by Edward Timpson.The Government will also establish a practice programme that embeds effective partnership working between local authorities, schools, alternative provision and other partners to better equip schools to intervene early for children at risk of exclusion and to ensure that the most effective provision is put in place for those who are excluded. As a large proportion of schools are academies, the programme will support partnership working between local authorities and academies.

Erasmus+ Programme

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he will be able to confirm whether the UK is going to seek association to the next Erasmus+ programme that will run from 2021; and what recent assessment he has made of the benefits to widening participation for outward student mobility of that programme.

Chris Skidmore: The government firmly believes that the UK and European countries should continue to give young people and students the chance to benefit from each other’s world-leading universities following our exit from the European Union.The next generation of EU programmes is currently being discussed in the EU. This includes the proposed regulation for the 2021-27 Erasmus+ programme, which has reached a partial general approach in the Council of the European Union.Improving social mobility is a priority for this government and we want everyone to have the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their background or where they grew up. For this reason, the government welcomes the aim of the Commission’s proposal to make the next programme more accessible to participants, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.We will continue to participate in discussions on the draft regulation while we remain an EU Member State and are considering options for future participation in the next Erasmus+ programme. Of course, the text of the regulation has not been finalised, including important aspects such as the terms of third-country participation, and we will need to consider the regulation as a whole.Ultimately, any decisions about our participation in the Erasmus+ programme will also be a matter for wider negotiations about our future relationship with the EU.

Free School Meals: Barnsley

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the funding announced to provide free meals and activities over the 2019 summer holidays will be provided to Barnsley.

Nadhim Zahawi: As there were no applications for funding from any organisations to deliver the programme in Barnsley this summer, Barnsley will not receive any funding from the 2019 Holiday Activities and Food programme.

Schools: Local Government Services

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on improving schools' access to local authority support for pupils and families that need it.

Nadhim Zahawi: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education meets regularly with Cabinet colleagues to discuss the Department for Education agenda.

Pupil Exclusions

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by what date he plans to conclude the consultation on how to make schools accountable for the outcomes of permanently excluded children.

Nick Gibb: The Government is committed to making schools accountable for pupils who are permanently excluded. As stated in the review of school exclusion led by Edward Timpson, this will require careful design. The Department will work with education leaders over the summer to design a consultation on how to deliver this in practice, including seeking views on how to mitigate the potential unintended consequences that are identified in that review. The consultation will be launched in the autumn and will comply with the Government’s published consultation principles.

Pupil Exclusions

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he Is taking to minimise waiting times for permanently excluded pupils to be found a new school place.

Nick Gibb: The Government’s response to Edward Timpson’s review of school exclusion sets out our commitment to ensure that pupils who have been excluded from school continue to benefit from high-quality education. There are already duties in place to ensure children who are excluded from school are in education from the sixth day of their exclusion. The education provided must be full-time, or as close to full-time, if full-time would not be in a child’s best interests because of his or her health needs. Statutory guidance is also clear that schools should help to minimise the disruption that exclusion can cause to an excluded pupil’s education including considering starting alternative provision as soon as possible after the exclusion. In the case of a looked after child, the school and the local authority should work together to arrange alternative provision from the first day following the exclusion. Where it is not possible, or not appropriate, to arrange alternative provision during the first five school days of an exclusion, the school should take reasonable steps to set and mark work for the pupil. Fair access protocols exist to ensure that, outside the normal admissions round, unplaced children, especially the hardest to place and most vulnerable, are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible. However, the Department is aware there can be delays in the in-year admission of such children. As such, the Department is currently considering improvements to the in-year admission process, including Fair Access Protocols, to ensure that all children, especially the most vulnerable, can access a new school place as quickly as possible.

Pupil Exclusions

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the relationship between (a) disparities in funding for schools and local authorities and (b) rates of pupil exclusion.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Pupil Exclusions

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his oral statement of 7 May 2019 on the Timpson Review of school exclusions, Official Report column 479, what steps he plans to take to reduce off-rolling before the start of the next school year.

Nick Gibb: The Department is clear that off-rolling is unacceptable, and while it believes this practice is relatively rare, the Government is committed to continue to work with Ofsted to define and tackle the practice of off-rolling.Ofsted already considers records of children taken off roll and has recently consulted on proposals that will see a strengthened focus on this issue. It has proposed that where inspectors find off-rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report, and where appropriate will lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate. Ofsted will publish the outcome of its consultation soon.In response to Edward Timpson’s review of school exclusion, the Department has committed to working with education leaders over the summer to design a consultation on making schools accountable for the outcomes for permanently excluded children, to be launched in the autumn. Among other things, the Department will seek views on how to mitigate the potential unintended consequences Edward Timpson has identified in his review, including how to tackle the practice of off-rolling.

Ofsted: Finance

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding his Department has provided to Ofsted in each financial year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Institutes of Technology

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there will be a competition for further Institutes of Technology as part of his Department's plan to review Institute of Technology cold spots.

Anne Milton: We have always acknowledged that there might be some parts of the country where there were no proposals that met our quality standard in this competition. We will review the extent of geographical ‘cold spots’ in provision for Institutes of Technology to determine whether a future competition should be considered.

Children: Day Care

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of level of public awareness of the 30 hours free childcare programme in each income decile in England.

Nadhim Zahawi: This government is committed to helping working families with accessible, affordable childcare and offers a broad range of childcare support.The department measures awareness via the annual Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents, the most recent data published as Official Statistics in December 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-survey-of-parents-2018.This data will be collected in 2019 via the same survey and published as Official Statistics in December 2019.Table 3.1, attached, summarises awareness of the 30 hours policy among families with children aged 0-4 years in England, broken down by various family characteristics such as family income. 



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Tiffin-Brown, Dylan

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the report of the Serious Case Review into the death of Dylan Tiffin-Brown is due to be published.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will ensure that in compiling its report the Serious Case Review Panel reviewing the death of Dylan Tiffin Brown in Northampton will interview family and community members as set out in the guidance for serious case reviews.

Nadhim Zahawi: Publication and timings of serious case reviews rest with the relevant local safeguarding children board. The department cannot comment on specific serious case reviews until after publication. The statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2015’ sets out the purpose of serious case reviews and the process to be followed. Decisions on the scope and methodology rest with the relevant local safeguarding children board (LSCB) and I expect Northamptonshire’s LSCB, like all others, to reflect our guidance in any review.

Social Services: Northamptonshire

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what reports he has received from the children's services commissioner on progress in improving children's services in Northamptonshire in the last five years.

Nadhim Zahawi: Malcolm Newsam CBE was appointed as Commissioner for Children’s Services in Northamptonshire on 30 November 2018. He has submitted one report to date. This will be published shortly.

Free School Meals

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of rolling over any unspent funds on the cards of children entitled to free school meals, at the end of each week, so that they can be used the following week.

Nadhim Zahawi: Free school meals (FSM) are intended as a benefit in kind, rather than a cash benefit, and our primary interest is that schools meet their legal duties to provide nutritious free lunches to eligible children.We trust school leaders to make the best decisions in the interests of their pupils and it is right that they have flexibility around how they deliver FSM.We are, of course, very keen to ensure that all eligible children receive their full entitlement to FSM. We are also interested to hear about new and creative steps schools are taking to support eligible children. It is important that children are claiming their free lunch each day and that schools and colleges operating this system to avoid any risk of children building up significant cash reserves on their accounts or regularly spending their allowances at other times of the day without receiving a healthy lunch.We would not wish to instruct schools to do any specific approach nationally. However, we will consider how we can share the very best practice around FSM.

Teachers: Training

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether a  training budget is available to teachers.

Nick Gibb: The Department knows that continuing professional development (CPD) is integral to improving the quality of teaching. Effective, evidence-based CPD strengthens practice, builds confidence and, crucially, improves outcomes for pupils.For CPD to be effective, however, it must be tailored to the needs of the individual. That is why decisions relating to CPD, including budgets, rightly rest with schools, headteachers and teachers.The Department recognises that more can be done to improve the take-up of high quality evidence-based CPD in schools. That is why the CPD Expert Group has re-convened to develop recommendations that ensure that all teachers have access to high quality, meaningful support and CPD, drawing on the Standard for Teachers’ Professional Development (published in July 2016) and the accompanying implementation guide.

Educational Exchanges

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which Minister in his Department has responsibility for promoting international exchange in British schools and at national, regional and local level.

Nick Gibb: The Department works closely with the British Council, who play an important role in promoting exchange opportunities to schools and helping them to find partners.In January, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced a new £2.5 million programme to provide more opportunities for young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to take part in an international school exchange. More information about the programme is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/25-million-to-boost-international-exchanges-for-schools.

Universities

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many university courses have a mandatory international semester.

Chris Skidmore: The information requested is not held centrally.Universities are autonomous institutions and responsible for deciding their own course structures and content, including whether periods of international study are required.

Apprentices: Wolverhampton North East

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education,how many apprenticeships have been created in each month since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in Wolverhampton North East constituency.

Anne Milton: The attached table provides figures for apprenticeship starts for each month since May 2017, when significant structural changes to the apprenticeship funding system were implemented following the introduction of the apprenticeship levy and apprenticeship service.The profile of apprenticeship starts changed significantly both in the run-up to the introduction of the levy and subsequently. Care should be taken when comparing individual months between academic years as they are unlikely to provide a meaningful year-on-year trend. Numbers of reported starts are likely to change as the reforms to apprenticeship funding continue to bed in and employers engage with the new system.  



252118_table
(Word Document, 64.5 KB)

Free School Meals

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of disadvantaged children will not benefit from the funding for free school meals and activities during the summer break announced on 8 May 2019.

Nadhim Zahawi: We do not know the number of children that will not benefit from the funding for free school meals (FSM) and activities during the 2019 summer holidays. This would depend on how many children in the funded areas choose to take up the offer of free holiday provision.Our 2019 programme will take place in 11 local authority areas. It will enable us to test the effectiveness of a model of local coordination of free holiday club provision. We are carrying out an independent evaluation of this programme and will publish the results of this, including information on attendance.

Ministry of Justice

Prison Officers: Riot Control Weapons

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff in each prison have been trained to use PAVA spray.

Robert Buckland: Comprehensive training has been provided to those staff permitted to carry PAVA, which was piloted in four HMPPS prisons. To date only staff in the pilot sites have been trained, the numbers of eligible staff trained at each prison is available in the table below. PrisonNumber of eligible staff trainedRisley245Wealstun163Preston229Hull314

Courts: Telephone Services

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2019 to Question 235313 on Courts: Telephone Services, which helplines were included in that figure for the number of calls received in February 2019; and how many calls were directed to each helpline.

Edward Argar: The helplines included were Social Security and Child Support, Divorce, Probate and Single Justice Service. Calls answered on each line in February 2019 are as follows: Social Security and Child Support33,411Divorce14,454Probate1,538Single Justice Service3,848

Animal Welfare: Romford

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many animal cruelty (a) offences and (b) convictions there were in Romford constituency in each year since 2012.

Robert Buckland: The number of defendants prosecuted and offenders found guilty of offences under Sections 4 to 8 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, in the Metropolitan Police Force area and the North East London local justice area, from 2012 to 2017, can be viewed in the table. Information specifically related to Romford is not available so the North East London Local Justice Area (which includes Romford) has been provided. Court proceedings and cautions data for 2018 is planned for publication on 16 May 2019.



Table
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Women's Centres: Wales

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on expanding the provision of women's centres in Wales.

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what criteria his Department plans to use to decide the locations of additional women's centres.

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timescale is for opening additional women's centres in the UK.

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with (a) the Welsh Local Government Association and (b) local authorities in Wales on establishing a women's centre in their authority area.

Edward Argar: As part of the Female Offender Strategy, we are committed to working with local and national partners to develop a ‘Residential Women’s Centre’ pilot in at least five sites across England and Wales. We have recently concluded our first phase of consultation with stakeholders, partners and providers. This has included close working with colleagues across Welsh government on any Wales-specific implications and requirements, as well as engagement with providers of women’s services in Wales. The Welsh Government also has representation on our Advisory Board for Female Offenders, which scrutinises the work of the Female Offender programme and the implementation of the Female Offender Strategy.Whilst no decisions regarding the locations of the Residential Women’s Centre pilot have been made, we appreciate the need to ensure adequate provision of women’s support services in Wales. I have discussed this issue with Jane Hutt AM, Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, and look forward to continuing discussions with our Welsh partners on how best to achieve this.HMPPS in Wales have also been working with colleagues in Welsh Government to develop a draft blueprint for justice services for women that reflects the landscape in Wales. This will outline a vision to enable devolved and non-devolved services to work together to deliver efficient and effective services that will deliver positive outcomes for individuals and the community and considers alternatives to custody for women in Wales, including women’s centres.The blueprint development work has been discussed with the All Wales Criminal Justice Board, which includes Welsh Local Government Association representation.

Ministry of Justice: Consultants

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent from the public purse on consultancies in each financial year between 2008 and 2011.

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent from the public purse on consultancies in each financial year between 2011 and 2014.

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent from the public purse on consultancies in each financial year between 2014 and 2016.

Edward Argar: Consultancy spend data for the Ministry of Justice for the periods 2010-11 to 2016-17 is available on gov.uk and can be accessed using the following links. 2010-11 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-justice-annual-report-and-accounts-2010-11  2011-12 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-justice-annual-report-and-accounts-2011-12  2012-13 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-justice-annual-report-and-accounts-2012-13  2013-14 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-justice-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014  2014-15 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-justice-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015  2015-16 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-justice-annual-report-and-accounts-2015-to-2016  2016-17 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-justice-annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017 The data for the periods 2008-09 and 2009-10 is not centrally held.

Prison Sentences: EU Countries

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative assessment he has made of the levels of incarceration in the UK and other European countries; and what steps his Department is taking to prevent unnecessary incarcerations.

Robert Buckland: The Ministry of Justice does not publish information on rates of imprisonment in England and Wales as part of its statistical releases. However, the Department is a contributor to the Council of Europe’s “SPACE I” annual report, which provides an overview of the use of custodial sanctions and measures in the Member States of the Council of Europe, including rates of imprisonment for each Member State. The latest report “SPACE I – 2018” can be found at: http://wp.unil.ch/space/space-i/annual-reports/ By law, courts in England and Wales are required to be satisfied that the offence committed is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified. In the event a custodial sentence is imposed, the law also requires that it should be for the shortest time possible, commensurate with the seriousness of the offence. We are exploring options to restrict the use of short custodial sentences, but have not at this stage reached any conclusions. There is persuasive evidence showing that they do not work in terms of rehabilitation and helping some offenders turn their backs on crime, and that community sentences, in certain circumstances, are actually more effective in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 found that over a 1-year follow up period, a higher proportion of people re-offended having been sentenced to custody of under 12 months without supervision on release than other similar people given community orders.

Prison Sentences

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people given a sentence of six months or less, have previously served (a) 19 short sentences of six months or less, (b) 20 short sentences of six months or less, (c) 50 short sentences of six months or less and (d) 100 short sentences of 6 months or less between 31 October 2017 and 1 September 2018.

Robert Buckland: For those offenders sentenced to an immediate custodial sentence of six months or less between 31st October 2017 and 1st September 2018:a) 246 had 19 previous immediate custodial sentences of six months or less,b) 223 had 20 previous immediate custodial sentences of six months or less,c) 12 had 50 previous immediate custodial sentences of six months or less, andd) 0 had 100 previous immediate custodial sentences of six months or less.

Prisoners' Release: Housing

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what number and proportion of prisoners released did not have accommodation to go to in each year since 2010.

Robert Buckland: The information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.   While the exact information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost, some of the data is available in part, which is detailed below.   It is vital that everyone leaving prison has somewhere safe and secure to live. Having somewhere stable to live acts as a platform for ex-offenders to be able to access the services and support needed to turn their back on crime for good. Published statistics for 2017/18 showing the accommodation status for all offenders can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/community-performance-quarterly-mi-update-to-march-2018 As part of the Government initiative to reduce and ultimately eliminate rough sleeping across England, we are investing up to £6.4 million over two years in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders into accommodation from three prisons, namely Bristol, Pentonville and Leeds. The pilots will focus on male prisoners who have served shorter sentences, who have been identified as having a risk of homelessness. Following a mobilisation period, we expect services to commence in Summer of this year. This is a concrete step in our commitment to tackling rough sleeping.

Probation: Standards

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the overall performance of probation services since the part-privatisation of those services in 2014.

Robert Buckland: All probation providers are now assessed on an annual basis by HM Inspectorate of Probation. In addition, HM Prison and Probation Service runs regular, targeted operational audits to assess performance. We take action on any performance concerns highlighted. Quarterly performance statistics are also available, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics#community-performance-statistics We have been clear that probation services need to improve. While the National Probation Service is performing well, the performance of CRCs has too often been disappointing, for a variety of reasons. Last year, we announced our decision to end current Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) contracts early. Following this, we launched a consultation, Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence, and engaged with stakeholders and the market on the future of the probation system. We will set out detailed plans for the future of probation services shortly.

Age of Criminal Responsibility

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission of 7 May 2019, Torture in the UK: update report, whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to raise the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales.

Edward Argar: We have no current plans to change the age of criminal responsibility. We believe that setting the age at 10 provides flexibility in dealing with young offenders and allows for early intervention in a child’s life with the aim of preventing subsequent offending. That is why there are a range of options available to the police to resolve offences and put in place interventions to prevent further offending. Furthermore, the particular needs of a child will be identified through assessment by the local multi-agency youth offending team who can refer them on to other services for further investigation and support.

Wales Office: Contracts

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2019 to Question 249229 on Wales Office: Contracts, how many contracts awarded by his Department on behalf of the Wales Office were awarded to companies based in (a) Wales, (b) the UK, (c) the EU and (d) the rest of the world in each of the last three years.

Edward Argar: The information requested could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Contracts

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2019 to Question 243526 on Prisons: Contracts, if the criteria for the qualitative evaluation of operational resources will include minimum staffing levels.

Robert Buckland: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Prisons: Contracts

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2019 to Question 243531 on Prisons: Contracts, and with reference to House Commons Library Deposited Paper, DEP2019-0487, Model for Operational Delivery: New Resettlement Prisons, Version 1.8, April 2019, if he will publish all previous versions of that document which have been made available to potential private prison contractors.

Robert Buckland: The document placed in the house library pursuant to question 243531 is the most recent and up to date version of the Model for Operational Delivery. It can be used by bidders to develop their bids as part of the mini competition for Wellingborough. We do not consider it useful to publish all previous versions of this document and do not intend to do so.

Prisons: Contracts

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 11 of the House Commons Library Deposited Paper, DEP2019-0490, Prison Operator Competition Contract Summary, what steps are taken to hold private prison contractors to account.

Robert Buckland: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Police Cautions

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance is provided to police forces on the procedure for administering cautions to ensure that the person involved understands the legal consequences of accepting that caution.

Robert Buckland: Out of Court Disposals (OOCDs) are measures which allow police to deal quickly and proportionately with low-level offending without recourse to the courts. Simple and Conditional Cautions exist currently for adult offenders. Ministry of Justice published guidance on Simple Cautions for Adult Offenders, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simple-cautions-guidance-for-police-and-prosecutors Section 3 of the guidance states police officers must ensure the offender understands the implications of accepting a simple caution, and consents to receiving the disposal before it can be administered. The implications which must be explained are set out in paragraphs 62-76 of the guidance. This includes the significance of the admission of guilt and the retention and disclosure of criminal record information for future legal proceedings or criminal record checks. Guidance also states police officers should ensure offenders are given the opportunity to receive free and independent legal advice before accepting a simple caution. Similar points are made in the Ministry of Justice Guidance for Conditional Cautions for Adult Offenders (also in Section 3 of the guidance) which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-adult-conditional-cautions

Judiciary: Females

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase the number of women members of the judiciary.

Edward Argar: The proportion of female court judges has increased by 5 percentage points since 2014, to 29% as at 1 April 2018, and for tribunal judges it has increased by 3 percentage points to 46%, over the same period. We recognise that more progress is required and the Ministry of Justice has jointly developed and is funding the pre-application judicial education programme (PAJE), which launched on 24 April 2019. This will support and encourage lawyers interested in a judicial career and targets underrepresented groups including women, to help them prepare for a judicial career. The MoJ continues to work closely with the Lord Chief Justice, Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission and other members of the Judicial Diversity Forum, including the three legal professions, to implement its multi stranded plan to increase judicial diversity.

Judiciary: Females

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many members of the judicial bench in the family division are women.

Edward Argar: As of 1 April 2018, 58 judges appointed to the family division were women. This amounts to 48% of the total number of judges in the family division.



Table
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Animal Welfare: Prosecutions

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many animal cruelty offences against circus animals led to a prosecution in 2018.

Edward Argar: Information as to whether or not an animal cruelty offence involved a circus animal may be held on court record but to be able to identify these specific cases, which are not held centrally, we would have to access individual court records which would be of disproportionate cost.

Debt Collection

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many bailiffs have been removed from the certificated bailiff register in each of the last seven years.

Edward Argar: Since the introduction of the Certification of Enforcement Agent Regulations in April 2014, the following numbers of enforcement agents have been removed from the Register of Certificated Enforcement Agents:2014 - 312015 - 912016 - 1042017 - 742018 – 372019 (January -April) - 26Reasons for cancelling a certificate include an agent leaving his or her employer, ceasing to work as an enforcement agent or by a judicial order following a judgment that they are not a fit and proper person to hold a certificate.

Young Offenders: Criminal Proceedings

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time between a young offender being charged and their (a) trial if they have pleaded not guilty and (b) sentencing hearing where they have pleaded guilty has been in each year since 2010.

Edward Argar: Data available does not allow the question to be answered with two simple measures as offences can be sentenced at either the Youth court (magistrates’) or Crown court. The attached tables provide figures on the average (both mean and median) number of days from:Charge to start of trial at Youth (magistrate’s) court, for youths pleading not guilty (Table A)Charge to main hearing at Crown Court, for youths pleading not guilty (Table B)Charge to completion for Youth (magistrates’) court cases for youths pleading guilty (Table C)Charge to main hearing at Crown Court, for youths pleading guilty (Table D)



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Treasury

Mortgages

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government has taken to improve access to the mortgage market for underserved groups.

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to improve access to the mortgage market for (a) small business owners, (b) self-employed people and (c) people working in the gig economy.

John Glen: The Government is committed to maintaining an accessible mortgage market. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is responsible for regulating the market and protecting consumers, found in their Mortgage Market Study, published March 2019, that the market is working well and that consumers have access to mortgages that are suitable and affordable. The FCA recognises that lenders should have flexibility to decide what type of evidence of income they can accept from customers, including those who are self-employed or have alternative sources of income. Many lenders also offer custom mortgage products designed for contractors or the self-employed. These commonly include features designed to account for income volatility, such as the ability to make capital repayments at any time, or income assessments using averaged figures to smooth out monthly variations. Beyond the FCA’s regulations, decisions around the type and availability of mortgage products are commercial decisions for lenders, and the Government does not seek to intervene in these decisions.

Community Land Trusts: Capital Gains Tax

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to grant full Capital Gains Tax relief for land sales to a Community Land Trust for affordable homes.

Mel Stride: The Government is committed to improving the supply of affordable homes. Since 2010, we have increased housing supply by over 1.3 million homes, including 407,000 affordable homes. We do not currently have plans to grant full Capital Gains Tax relief for land sales to a Community Land Trust. The Government considers that the extent to which a Capital Gains Tax relief for land sales to a Community Land Trust would incentivise such behaviour is uncertain. Tax reliefs have an Exchequer cost, and in contemplating such a relief the Government must consider the potential deadweight cost of any benefit going to people who would have sold the land to a Community Land Trust anyway.

Cash Dispensing: Fees and Charges

Catherine West: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure the continued provision of free cash withdrawals at ATMs.

John Glen: The Government-established Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is closely monitoring developments in ATM provision. The PSR regulates LINK, the scheme which runs the UK’s ATM network, and has used its powers to hold LINK to account over LINK’s commitments to preserve the broad geographic spread of the ATM network. The PSR has set out requirements of LINK, including that any cuts to interchange fees (the fees which fund free-to-use ATMs) must be incremental, with action taken by LINK where the impact is not as expected. Having implemented two of the four planned incremental reductions to the interchange fee, LINK has cancelled the third reduction and put on hold the fourth. The PSR welcomed these adjustments, having stated that LINK must carefully review its decisions on interchange fees to reflect changing market conditions. These adjustments gave the PSR further assurances that LINK is committed to making sure communities do not lose their free-to-use ATMs. LINK has put in place specific arrangements to protect free-to-use ATMs more than 1 kilometre away from the next nearest free-to-use ATM. LINK has also enhanced its Financial Inclusion Programme by tripling the funding available to ATMs in the most deprived areas of the UK and undertaken new financial support for ATMs in remote and deprived areas.

Child Benefit: British Nationals Abroad

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of child benefit paid for children who do not reside in the UK; how many such children there were; and in which countries those children resided in the most recent financial year for which data are available.

Mel Stride: Total Child Benefit payments in 2018-19 amounted to £11.6 billion. It is estimated that approximately £15 million was paid for children resident in another EEA country or Switzerland. The number of children these payments relate to, broken down by the country they reside in, is provided in Table 1 below. Table 1: Estimated number of children for whom Child Benefit is received where European Community regulations apply, as at February 2019  CountryNumber of childrenAustria10Belgium40Bulgaria415Croatia45Cyprus40Czech Republic165Denmark20Estonia35Finland25France605Germany165Greece55Hungary150Iceland5Italy170Latvia700Liechtenstein-Lithuania790Luxembourg10Malta25Norway40Poland10,975Portugal230Republic of Ireland1,945Romania1,000Slovakia575Slovenia-Spain625Sweden30Switzerland20The Netherlands215Total19,120Footnote: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. Figures under 5 have been suppressed and shown as ‘-’.

Income Tax

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual cost of recognising family responsibility in the income tax system has been in each financial year since 2010.

Mel Stride: The Government supports families in a number of ways, including through the tax and welfare systems. The income tax system does this through various allowances including the married couples allowance and marriage allowance, and by providing tax reliefs for childcare. The Government also supports families through increasing tax thresholds including increasing the Personal Allowance to £12,500 for 2019 to 2020. The annual costs of most of these types of support in each financial year since 2010 have been set out in various HMRC publications.

Social Security Benefits

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual cost of recognising family responsibility in the welfare system has been in each financial year since 2010.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government supports families in a number of ways, including through the welfare system. For instance, every year the Government spends more than £11bn on Child Benefit in recognition of the costs to families of raising children. In addition to this, at the last Budget, the Chancellor put an additional £1.7bn per year into the Universal Credit Work Allowances for families with children and those where someone has a disability.

Fuels: Excise Duties

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the environmental impact of freezing fuel duty since 2010.

Robert Jenrick: The consumption of fuel is highly price inelastic. Therefore, fuel duty freezes only have a marginal impact on the amount of fuel purchased, and therefore limited impact on emissions. Households spend a significant amount of their total spending on transport fuels, and fuel costs are a major factor in helping the competitiveness of British businesses. Duty on fuel remains at 57.95ppl. The government is also taking action to reduce emissions and improve air quality through Vehicle Excise Duty and the Company Car Tax system.

Credit Unions

Dr David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to support the (a) development and (b) governance of credit unions.

John Glen: The government remains committed to supporting credit unions, which provide vital services to financially under-served communities and contribute to the diversity of the UK’s financial services sector. At Autumn Budget 2018, the Chancellor announced a two-year pilot of a new prize-linked savings scheme offered through credit unions. This will support the credit union sector through increased membership, awareness and deposits, as well as encouraging participants to build up savings to help them cope with financial shocks. At Autumn Budget 2018 the Chancellor also announced a new £2 million challenge fund to promote innovative solutions from the UK’s Fintech sector to address challenges faced by social and community lenders, including credit unions. This Government believes improving governance in the sector is best led by the sector itself, and supports the work of industry bodies in this regard.

101 Calls: Fees and Charges

Steve McCabe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department receives any money from the 15 pence service charge on calls to the non-emergency police hotline 101.

Mel Stride: VAT is applied at the standard rate of 20% to all telephone service call charges.

Credit Unions

Chris Stephens: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answers of 29 April 2019 Questions 246542, 246543 and 246544 on Credit Unions, what discussions he has had with the Prudential Regulation Authority on changing capital requirements for credit unions.

Chris Stephens: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answers of 29 April 2019 Questions 246542, 246543 and 246544 on Credit Unions, whether it is his Department's policy to support the Prudential Regulation Authority on decisions to change the capital requirements for credit unions.

John Glen: Capital requirements for credit unions are set by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), in line with their mandate to promote the safety and soundness of firms. The PRA is independent from government and is responsible for ensuring the credit union sector is effectively regulated and financially stable. I have regular meetings with the PRA to discuss a range of ongoing policy issues, including in relation to credit unions. The government remains committed to supporting credit unions, which provide vital services to financially under-served communities and contribute to the diversity of the UK’s financial services sector. Credit union membership and assets continue to grow, with membership passing 2 million for the first time in 2018 and total assets growing to over £3.3 billion.

Shops: Payment Methods

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of cashless shops on (a) low-income people and (b) poorer communities.

John Glen: The Treasury has not made a specific assessment of the effect of cashless shops on (a) low-income people and (b) poorer communities. However, last year the Government initiated a discussion on payment methods through a Call for Evidence on Cash and Digital Payments in the New Economy. This sought to gather evidence on how changing preferences for cash and digital payments impact on different sectors, regions and demographics. A wide range of evidence was collected, including on the changing levels of cash usage, and a formal summary of responses was published in May 2019. The response set out the Government’s commitment to supporting digital payments, whilst safeguarding access to cash for those who need it. The Government is engaging, and will continue to engage, with the regulators and industry on this important topic.

Employment Agencies: Tax Avoidance

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the level of involvement of recruitment agencies in disguised remuneration loans.

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many recruitment agencies have been implicated in loan charge cases.

Mel Stride: DR schemes are contrived arrangements that pay loans in place of ordinary remuneration, usually through an offshore trust, with the sole purpose of avoiding income tax and National Insurance contributions. The loans are provided on terms that mean they are not repaid in practice, so they are no different to normal income and are, and always have been, taxable. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will always seek payment of the loan charge from employers in the first instance. It is only where HMRC cannot reasonably collect from the employer, for example where the employer is no longer in existence or is based offshore, that the individual will be liable to pay the tax due. Around 75% of overall yield from the measure is expected to come from employers. Only an employer, or umbrella company established for the purpose, can originate a DR scheme. Recruitment agencies match individuals with engagers who require their labour. In most cases recruitment agencies do not employ the individual in question. Where a recruitment agency used a DR scheme to reward their employees they will be liable to pay the loan charge in the first instance.

Public Sector: Tax Avoidance

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is undertaking a review of internal (a) advice and (b) procedures on public sector organisations engaging in tax avoidance schemes.

Mel Stride: HMRC is committed to tackling tax avoidance and evasion at all levels to ensure that everyone, no matter who they are, pays the right amount of tax at the right time. It keeps its policies under constant review, including those affecting public sector bodies. HMRC works closely with public bodies to support them with their tax affairs and ensure they pay the right amount.

UK Asset Resolution

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the safeguards and mechanisms put in place by his Department and the Financial Conduct Authority between 2012 and 2018 in respect of the sale of UKAR loans to ensure that loan holders were able to transfer or get better terms from other regulated lenders instead of those companies to whom AKAR had sold their loans.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment (a) his Department and (b) the Financial Conduct Authority have made of the legal responsibility of TSB and other banks whose organisation or subsidiary have bought loans from UKAR to allow people who had such loans but are not their customers to transfer or switch to another mortgage loan provider.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2019 to Question 243349, if he will publish the details of the proportion of Northern Rock mortgage holders' loans that were sold to (a) inactive and (b) unregulated lenders between 2011 and 2018.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have had with the Financial Conduct Authority on whether Cerberus Capital Management is a fit and proper organisation to purchase mortgage loans from UK banks and his Department via UKAR.

John Glen: Customers have always been protected in UKAR asset sales. The government and UKAR consider the fair treatment of customers a priority for all asset sales and have always included customer protections in line with or that exceeded industry best practice for transactions of this nature. Bidders were required to agree to customer protections, which were non-negotiable, before the bids were assessed on price. These protections included: adherence to the Financial Conduct Authority’s principle of Treating Customers Fairly; where customers were on Standard Variable Rate mortgages, purchasers were restricted in the changes they could make to the Standard Variable Rate for 12 months; and, mortgage books that were sold had to be administered by Financial Conduct Authority regulated companies, and no changes could be made to the terms and conditions of any of the loans that had been sold. In addition to requiring bidders to agree to the protections outlined above, UKAR undertake due diligence on bidders, their proposed servicers and legal title holders of the loans to ensure that they have the necessary policies, procedures and governance in place to treat customers fairly. The details of all NRAM mortgage sales can be found on gov.uk. Both active and non-active lenders are invited to participate in UKAR sales to ensure a competitive process. In relation to the latest asset sale, UKAR’s advisors proactively invited the top 25 active lenders to participate. Notwithstanding this, UKAR have not received a bid from an active lender that covered the full portfolio of assets being sold. Whether to offer customers new mortgage products is a commercial decision for lenders and government does not intervene in individual cases. That said, the government welcomes the voluntary agreement entered into last year by UK Finance working with the FCA. Under this agreement, 59 authorised lenders representing 93 per cent of the UK’s residential mortgage market have agreed common standards to help existing borrowers on reversion rates who are up-to-date with repayments but, because of stricter affordability criteria, are currently ineligible, to move to an alternative product provided by their lender, where said lender is able to offer alternative products. HM Treasury has also worked closely with the FCA on their Mortgages Market Study and their planned changes to affordability assessments. These changes remove the regulatory barriers which previously might have prevented borrowers from accessing new mortgage deals, regardless of whether they are with active or inactive lenders. HM Treasury will continue to work closely with the FCA once the changes to their rules are implemented, to monitor the impact this will have on the market.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Buildings: Insulation

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the remediation of ACM cladding on privately-owned residential buildings, how many owners of such buildings (a) the Government has contacted directly to communicate the Government's expectation that leaseholders will be financially protected from the costs of such remediation, (b) have replied to that correspondence and (c) have said that they will financially protect leaseholders from the cost of such remediation.

James Brokenshire: I have written to all private sector building owners who are currently committed to passing on costs to leaseholders to make clear my strong expectation that leaseholders should be protected from costs. However, too many building owners have failed to take responsibility for ensuring these buildings are permanently remediated swiftly, and at no cost to leaseholders. I have therefore concluded that it is imperative for the Government to act. On 9 May we announced a fund for the remediation of unsafe Aluminium Composite Material cladding on all high-rise (over 18 metres) residential private sector buildings in England. It will allow remediation to happen quickly, it will restore peace of mind and it will allow residents living in these blocks to get on with their lives.

Buildings: Insulation

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the names of the (a) owners and (b) developers who (i) have and (ii) have not committed to ensuring that leaseholders do not pay for the remediation of ACM cladding materials used on their homes.

James Brokenshire: I have written to all relevant building owners setting out my strong expectation that leaseholders should be protected from costs. We are not publishing details which could identify buildings because of the risk to public safety. On 9 May we announced a fund for the remediation of unsafe Aluminium Composite Material cladding on all high-rise (over 18 metres) residential private sector buildings in England. A number of owners and developers, including Taylor Wimpey, Legal and General, Mace Group, Lendlease, Barratt Developments and Aberdeen Standard Investments have agreed to maintain their commitments to fund remediation. I commend them for the responsible and moral position they have taken.

Housing

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes to the calculation of housing need on local authorities that are awaiting the adoption of their local plan.

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities are without a five year housing land supply as a result of the decision to apply the new method of calculating housing need while awaiting the adoption of local plans.

Kit Malthouse: We are committed to a plan-led system that delivers the homes this country needs, while protecting our precious environment. Up-to-date plans provide a sound basis for assessing land supply, and it is only where plans have become out-of-date that our standard method for assessing housing need is used instead. What this means in practice will depend on the amount of land with permission in each area, the protections that apply and the stage an emerging plan has reached, and so there is no national estimate of the impact. The National Planning Policy Framework protects emerging plans in certain circumstances, even in the absence of a five-year land supply, where a development would significantly undermine the plan.

Housing: Disability

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking under the Public Sector Equality Duty to ensure that disabled people are not negatively affected by the Government's housing policies.

Kit Malthouse: Ensuring that our policies take into account the different needs of the population and ensure equality of experience, access and opportunity is not just the law, but it helps ensure that our interventions are effective and therefore worthwhile.The department, like the rest of Government, takes the Public Sector Equality Duty very seriously, ensuring policy development and implementation appropriately takes into account the needs of people with disabilities.

Social Rented Housing: Disability

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that wheelchair-users do not have to wait longer than non-wheelchair users for social homes.

Kit Malthouse: The statutory ‘reasonable preference’ criteria already ensure that social housing is prioritised for those who need to move on medical and welfare grounds, including grounds relating to a disability. This will include wheel-chair users.In the Social Housing Green Paper we set out our intention to undertake an evidence collection exercise to help us understand how the allocations system is working and whether it is striking the right balance between fairness, support and aspiration. We are considering responses to the Green Paper and will respond in due course.

Housing: Construction

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that local authorities monitor the number of new build homes that comply with optional accessibility standards set out in building regulations.

Kit Malthouse: We have strengthened the policy for securing accessible housing, by expecting local planning authorities to use the Government’s optional technical standards for accessible and adaptable housing when preparing their plans, where this would address an identified need for such properties. Our planning guidance sets out the role of local planning authorities in monitoring the implementation of plans. Authorities can include the provision of accessible housing when preparing their Authority Monitoring Reports, but this is not mandatory.

Community Land Trusts

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to support Community Land Trusts in making homes more affordable.

Kit Malthouse: The Government supports the community-led housebuilding sector – of which community land trusts are an important part – through the annual £60 million Community Housing Fund. The Fund is delivered outside London by Homes England and within London by the Greater London Authority. Capital and revenue grants are available to community-based groups wishing to take forward schemes to build locally affordable housing. Through the Fund, the Government is also supporting a consortium of the major stakeholder groups (including the National Community Land Trust Network) to develop a network of technical advisors to support community-based groups though the process of developing their housebuilding schemes.The Community Housing Fund is currently scheduled to close in March 2020. Decisions on funding for 2020-21 onwards are a matter for the Spending Review, which will take place this year.

Housing: Older People

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities have detailed planning guidance in place for the provision of specialist housing for older people.

Kit Malthouse: In the revised National Planning Policy Framework, we strengthened policy to create a clear expectation that all local authorities have policies in place for addressing the housing needs of older people. All plans submitted to the Planning Inspectorate after 24 January 2019 will need to comply with the revised Framework. We will publish new planning guidance shortly that will provide advice to authorities about implementing this policy. The number of authorities with their own detailed planning guidance on the provision of specialist housing for older people is not recorded.

Marriage Guidance: Finance

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much and what proportion of funding for relationships support provided through the troubled families programme has been ring-fenced for marriage support.

Rishi Sunak: The Troubled Families Programme is designed to support families with complex problems, including promoting family stability and reducing parental conflict. Funding for the programme is not ring-fenced and we do not collect information about spending on specific services such as marriage support. This funding flexibility allows upper tier local authorities and their partners to decide how best to deliver the programme in their own area, according to local need and priorities. Up to £920 million has been made available for the programme from 2015-2020. In addition, my department has worked closely with DWP to make sure delivery of the programme is coordinated with the Reducing Parental Conflict Programme, for which up to £39 million has been made available.

Rough Sleeping: Barnsley

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the £25 million of funding recently announced by his Department to tackle rough sleeping will be allocated to Barnsley.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: Barnsley did not bid for our Rapid Rehousing Pathway fund and has therefore not been allocated any funding through this process.However Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham have been jointly funded and provisionally allocated £328,038 though our Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) for 2019/20. This funding will provide essential local services such as enhanced outreach provision, additional prevention workers, mental health practitioners and a rough sleeping co-coordinator.The Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.As part of this, in its first year, our Rough Sleeping Initiative provided over 1,750 new bed spaces and 500 staff. This year we have expanded the RSI with investment of £46 million for 246 areas – providing funding for an estimated 2,600 bed spaces and 750 staff. We are determined to work with all local authorities who are driven to reducing the number of those sleeping rough.

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answers of 3 May 2019 to Question 248691 and of 28 March 2019 to Question 236427 on Buildings: Insulation, how the construction industry was made aware before June 2017 that the core of Aluminium Composite Material cladding was to be considered filler material as the term is to be understood in Approved Document Part B Volume 2, 2006, 2010 and 2013 editions, paragraph 12.7.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Domestic Abuse: Victim Support Schemes

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish the public consultation on the future funding of domestic abuse services.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: I am pleased to announce that, having carried out a review of how domestic abuse services are locally commissioned across England, we have today launched a consultation on Future Delivery of Support to Victims and their Children in Accommodation-Based Domestic Abuse Services. The consultation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/support-for-victims-of-domestic-abuse-in-safe-accommodation.We are proposing a duty which requires a partnership approach to supporting victims and their children based on a robust understanding of local need for support. This will be accompanied by Statutory Guidance that will clarify Government expectations in this regard.We believe our proposals will promote sustainable, consistent, support for all victims, informed by understanding the needs across local areas and taking account of the needs of diverse victim groups, such as those with protected characteristics and victims with complex needs.Through this consultation, we would like to hear from victims and survivors, service providers, local authorities and other public agencies, as well as other professionals who support victims and their children every day.

Mobile Homes: Council Tax

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to lower the level of council tax paid by residents of park homes; and if he will make a statement.

Rishi Sunak: The level of council tax which is payable is set by the local authorities in an area and reflects the council tax band a home is in. Responsibility for setting the council tax bands of homes in England, including park homes, rests with the Valuation Office Agency who carry out their work independently of Ministers.

Business Premises: Change of Use

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect on the availability of business premises of permitted development rules allowing offices to be converted into housing.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Owner Occupation

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of home ownership in England in each National Statistics socio-economic classification category in each year since 2012.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence

Iceland: Military Aid

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to provide military support to Iceland in the next 12 months.

Mark Lancaster: The UK will contribute four Typhoon aircraft to NATO Air Policing in Iceland for the first time in late 2019. In addition, the UK regularly takes part in exercises hosted by Iceland and we plan to participate in Exercise Dynamic Mongoose 19 (NATO Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) exercise) and Exercise Northern Challenge 19 (NATO Bomb Disposal exercise).

Australia: Military Alliances

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has for defence co-operation with Australia in the next 12 months.

Mark Lancaster: Australia is one of our very closest defence partners. We work bilaterally and in multi-lateral fora such as the Five Eyes grouping and the Five Powers Defence Arrangements. We are cooperating on operations, notably in Afghanistan, collaborating on key defence capabilities, including the Type 26 Global Combat Ship and maintain regular exchanges of personnel. This is underpinned by regular meetings between Ministers and senior officers and officials, and the annual AUKMIN discussions between the Secretary of State for Defence, the Foreign Secretary and their Australian counterparts.

Ministry of Defence: Emerdata

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether (a) his Department, (b) his Department's agencies and (c) his Department's associated public bodies have entered into contracts with Emerdata Limited in the last year.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence has never entered into a contract with Emerdata Limited.Records of Government contracts above £10,000 in central government and £25,000 in the wider public sector are published on Contracts Finder:https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search

Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator: Annual Reports

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason his Department changed its policy towards the publication of Annual Reports from the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator since its last publication in 2014-15.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of transparency in the regulation of nuclear safety.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps she is taking to increase the transparency of the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator.

Stuart Andrew: We have taken the step to not publish the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator's Annual Assurance Reports as it has been assessed to do so would impact national security. This step has not prevented the effective management and independent assessment of the Defence Nuclear Programme being reported to Ministers, nor has it prevented its duty holders being held to account, but we cannot accept any compromise of our capabilities in the current security climate.The Government recognises that there is legitimate interest in nuclear safety, but we would not publish information that could be exploited by potential adversaries, compromising our national security. Overall, the Defence Nuclear Programme achieves the required standards of nuclear and radiological safety. The safety of the public, our submarine crews, the defence workforce and the protection of the environment remain the Department's priority.

Nuclear Weapons: Transport

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many safety-related incidents that have occurred during the transportation of nuclear weapons have resulted in the convoy transporting those weapons temporarily halting; and what assessment she has made of the potential environmental effect of those incidents.

Stuart Andrew: The transportation of Defence Nuclear Material, which includes nuclear weapons, is carried out to the highest standard in accordance with stringent safety regulations. Any potential issue with a convoy vehicle, no matter how minor, is treated seriously and may result in a short unscheduled stop to carry out vehicle checks to ensure that safety is maintained.Since 2000 there have been 57 unscheduled stops of this nature. None posed any risk to the public, environment, or to any material being transported.

Trident Submarines: Design

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of potential late changes to the Dreadnought submarine design.

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment she has made of the effect of delays to Dreadnought submarines on the out of service date for Vanguard submarines.

Stuart Andrew: The design and build of the Dreadnought class submarines continues. The programme remains on track to enter service in the early 2030s, it remains within its budget. The build phase for the entire class will take approximately 20 years. The Dreadnought programme will ensure the United Kingdom has a credible, independent and capable nuclear deterrent out to the 2060s.

Nuclear Weapons: Finance

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether anticipated reductions in spending on the UK nuclear weapons programme from 2026 onwards are included in her Department’s budgetary costings.

Stuart Andrew: Yes. Forecast costs for the Defence nuclear enterprise are included in the Department's forecast cost estimates, as published in the Equipment Plan.

Astute Class Submarines and Trident Submarines

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment she has made of the effect of delays to the Astute submarine programme on the delivery of the Dreadnought programme.

Stuart Andrew: The Dreadnought submarine programme remains within budget and on track to deliver the first boat in the early 2030s.

Trident Submarines: Repairs and Maintenance

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps her Department in taking to tackle delays to the Vanguard submarine maintenance schedule.

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of delays to the Vanguard submarine maintenance schedule.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence is committed to working closely with Babcock to safely deliver submarine support work, including our major planned maintenance projects. With Babcock, we are employing robust programme management techniques to deliver the HMS VANGUARD planned period of deep maintenance and refuel work. I am withholding the estimated cost as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

Submarines: Nuclear Reactors

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether her Department has identified the fuel element breach problems in the PWR2 submarine reactor design.

Stuart Andrew: The safety of all the United Kingdom's nuclear submarines is not in doubt and remains our highest priority.

Devonport Dockyard: Trident Submarines

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of upgrading docks at Devonport as part of the UK nuclear programme.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence continues to undertake work to define the future infrastructure requirements at Devonport to deliver the submarine programme safely and securely. We are currently conducting negotiations with industry partners.

Submarines: Cost Effectiveness

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent changes her Department has made to the estimated savings to be accrued from the Submarine Enterprise Performance Programme.

Stuart Andrew: The estimated savings to be delivered under the Submarine Enterprise Performance Programme are included in the annual Defence Equipment Plan. The 2018 plan was published on 18 March 2019, and can be found here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/788481/20190318-EP18_v3.pdf

Trident: Finance

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if she will publish the full-life costings of all elements of the UK nuclear programme.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence does not, and has no plans to, routinely publish whole life costs for projects, nuclear or otherwise, beyond what is already published in reports such as the Defence Equipment Plan, Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts, and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority's Annual Report on Major Projects.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps she is taking to increase recruitment to the armed forces from rural areas.

Mark Lancaster: The Armed Forces recruit nationally. The geographic footprint of Armed Forces Career Offices across the UK is complemented by dedicated call centres and online recruiting operations, ensuring that members of rural or isolated communities have the same opportunity to join the Armed Forces as anyone else. In addition, the Services conduct outreach engagement programmes across the whole of the UK, delivering events such as career fairs, tactical campaigns and roadshows, supported by web-based information services and social media campaigns.

Brunei: Joint Exercises

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2019 to Question 248622 on Brunei: Joint Exercises, how many military personnel from (a) the UK and (b) Brunei will take part in Exercise Grypus Trail 19/1.

Mark Lancaster: Approximately 100 UK military personnel and around 25 Brunei military personnel will participate in Exercise Gryphus Trail.

Iran: International Military Services

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2019 to Question 245905 on Iran: International Military Services, what the exact date in May 2019 is for the scheduled enforcement hearing for the court case between IMS Ltd and the Iranian Government on outstanding IMS debt.

Stuart Andrew: The hearing is private and confidential and I am not at liberty to disclose the date.

DMRC Headley Court: Veterans

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans have been granted access to the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre through the Veterans Prosthetic Panel in the last 12 months.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Twelve veteran patients have been seen at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in the last calendar year.

DMRC Headley Court: Veterans

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans were granted access to Headley Court in each of the last 10 years.

Mark Lancaster: Since 2016, veterans with amputation-related complications can be referred by the NHS to the Complex Prosthetics Assessment Clinic (CPAC) at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, which relocated from Headley Court to the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate in 2018. To date, 41 patients have been seen at the CPAC since it began. A breakdown of patients by year is not available.

DMRC Headley Court: Veterans

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans requested but were refused access to Headley Court in each of the last ten years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Veteran referrals and requests for DMRC treatment can be received in many different ways, for which there is no central record. Consequently, an answer to this question cannot be provided.

Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre: Veterans

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to grant veterans access to Stanford Hall for rehabilitation purposes.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) mission is to provide sick and injured Service personnel the rehabilitation they require to be able to return to duty or transition back into civilian life, at which point the NHS becomes responsible for their care.The access policy at the new DMRC Stanford Hall remains unchanged from that previously in place at DMRC Headley Court, in that there is no provision generally for veterans to access the facility. We have, however, in collaboration with the NHS, established a specialist clinic whereby NHS Limb Fitting Centres can refer selected veterans (who are ex-DMRC patients) back to the DMRC for assistance with the management of amputation-related complications.This Complex Prosthetics Assessment Clinic (CPAC) has also been used to identify suitable candidates (serving and veterans) for the LIBOR-funded MOD/NHS osseointegration surgical pilot. After surgery all these patients (including veterans) are rehabilitated at the DMRC. We are also currently exploring options for a limited expansion of the CPAC eligibility criteria to include those non-amputee patients that have been fitted with medical devices such as offload braces.

Heavy Equipment Transporters: Location

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the current location of the Heavy Equipment Transporters.

Mark Lancaster: The Army has a fleet of 91 Heavy Equipment Transporters. They are operated by military personnel of 19 Tank Transporter Squadron, Royal Logistic Corps, with our commercial partners and are based in Bulford.The fleet is currently operating in the UK and Europe in support of UK and allied operations and exercises. We do not routinely comment on specific locations for individual capabilities as to do so would compromise operational security or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces

Army: Deployment

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the estimate he has made of the deployment period for the Heavy Forces.

Mark Lancaster: For reasons of operational security, the Ministry of Defence does not disclose detailed information regarding the readiness of formations and units. That readiness will be constructed from many components, including training, the preparedness of personnel, and logistic enablers. The speed of deployment would also be dependent on the nature of the threat, capabilities required and geography of deployment.

Army: Military Bases

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans she has to forward base the UK's Heavy Forces.

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on the deployability of the Main Battle Tank throughout Europe.

Mark Lancaster: The British Army maintains the ability to deploy its Challenger 2 main battle tanks throughout Europe, with a number currently deployed in Estonia as part of NATO's enhanced Forward Presence. This is assisted by the Government's announcement last year that a residual Army presence in Germany will be maintained as a foundation on which to enhance readiness on mainland Europe; a number of main battle tanks are already forward based there. Defence is continuing to examine how we might forward deploy Army capability in the future but no conclusions have been reached.

Army

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Heavy Armoured Brigades her Department plans to have in the British Army Future Force Structure.

Mark Lancaster: The 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review set out the Government's intent for the Army to deliver, as part of Joint Force 2025, a warfighting division drawn from two armoured infantry brigades and two new strike brigades.

Type 31 Frigates: Procurement

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the timescale is for the bidding process for the Type 31e frigates.

Stuart Andrew: It remains our intention to award a single Design and Build contract for five Type 31e Frigates by the end of 2019.

International Military Services: Debts

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons his Department has not published the value of IMS Ltd.'s contingent liabilities as required by the statutory authorities conferred by the Ordnance Factories and Military Services Bill 1984.

Stuart Andrew: The Department set out its Statutory liability for International Military Sales on page 139 of the Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts.

International Military Services: Debts

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to lay a statutory instrument before Parliament to seek approval for any payment that results from the contingent liabilities for IMS Ltd.

Stuart Andrew: The Department will always comply with any statutory procedures.

Defence: Procurement

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April 2019 to Question 241023 on Defence: Procurement, if his Department will identify UK domestic manufacturers of specialised military cabling that meet the standards required.

Stuart Andrew: Most of our cabling requirements are likely to be sourced by our prime contractors and there is therefore no need for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to hold a list of potential suppliers. When a requirement for cabling is identified the MOD will procure, wherever possible, through open competition, assessing the tenders to ensure they meet the standards required before awarding any contract.We remain satisfied that our supplier base can continue to manufacture the cables needed for our current defence programmes.

Navy: Persian Gulf

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Royal Navy assets are currently deployed in the Persian Gulf.

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Royal Navy assets are currently deployed in the Arctic.

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Royal Navy assets are currently deployed in the (a) Indian Ocean and (b) South China Seas.

Mark Lancaster: The Royal Navy currently has six surface ships deployed in the Gulf. These are HMS BROCKLESBY, HMS LEDBURY, HMS BLYTH, HMS SHOREHAM, HMS MONTROSE and RFA CARDIGAN BAY.There are currently no surface ships deployed in the Arctic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea.The Ministry of Defence does not release details of future deployments, nor comment on submarine operations, as to do so would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

EU Defence Policy

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what her Department's policy is on the integration of European armed forces plan; and if she will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: The Government is not aware of an integration of European armed forces plan. The UK supports increased cooperation and interoperability between armed forces, including at European level, for example through joint exercises and development of defence capabilities. Such cooperation must be complementary with NATO, the cornerstone of our defence.

USA: Middle East

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions she has had with her US counterpart on the reported deployment of B-52 bombers to the Middle East.

Mark Lancaster: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has spoken with Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan as part of her introductory calls with her international counterparts. They discussed a range of issues of mutual interest.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the most recent month for which data is available, in what proportion of universal credit assessments for working claimants was income data taken from (a) RTI data provided by HMRC and (b) claimants' payslips.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 11 March 2019



The information requested is not held by the Department. Adjustments to payments owing to RTI and self-reported earnings cannot always be separated from other adjustments to a payment, such as a repayment of advances. From the information that is readily available for Universal Credit Full Service, in January 2019, over 1 million households had payments processed, and of these around 380,000 had an adjustment. Of the 380,000 payments processed that had an adjustment: 88% of the records had earnings information from HMRC’s Real-Time Earnings system.2% of the records had Self-Reported Earnings - cases where there were no available real time information feeds. Some of this information would have come from payslips, however it is not possible to break this data down further.less than 0.5% of the records had both Real-Time and Self-Reported Earnings information; and9% of the records had earnings from other sources such as self employed earnings and other income, which cannot readily be separated. Notes:Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000.Percentages are rounded to the nearest %.

Universal Credit: Wales

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of whether universal credit adequately covers the cost of living in Wales.

Alok Sharma: Successive Governments have made decisions about the rates of benefits taking account of the competing demands on public expenditure, mindful of the need to balance poverty alleviation whilst not damaging incentives to work, as all Governments since 1948 have striven to do. Benefits provide a safety net for people to spend on their individual needs.Government does not prescribe these, but provides support depending on circumstances such as ability to work and need for childcare. The applicable amount for Universal Credit is based upon a personal allowance paid according to age and family status, which can be supplemented by flat-rate premiums for groups recognised as having additional needs, such as disabled people and carers.

Universal Credit: Wales

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants received an underpayment of universal credit (a) as their first payment and (b) in further payments in (a) Ogmore and (b) Wales in 2018.

Alok Sharma: The information requested is not held by the Department. Our latest published data shows that consistently around 85% of new claimants are being paid in full and on time. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2019 to Question 243330 on Universal Credit, what proportion of universal credit claimants are unable to pay back the benefit advances they have taken within 12 months of their receipt in each year for which information is available.

Alok Sharma: 33% of UC advances which were paid before 5th May 2018, have not been fully repaid as at 5th May 2019. Advances are not loans; they are an interest free payment benefit advance, available to help people who need immediate financial support, which is then recovered over an agreed period. The Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that the recovery arrangements are personalised and reasonable. From October 2021 we are increasing the recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months, further supporting those in financial need. Queries against the current repayment stock are only ever a snap shot in time and therefore the position at the end of each financial year cannot be recreated.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the difficulties faced by universal credit claimants applying for a mortgage; and if she will make a statement.

Will Quince: The Financial Conduct Authority Handbook sets out rules and guidance for lenders. This provides that, prior to entering into a mortgage, a lender must assess whether the customer will be able to pay the sums due and must not enter into the transaction unless it can demonstrate that the mortgage is affordable for the customer (and any guarantor). It is up to individual lenders to determine how to ensure adherence to this requirement. Each lender is required to publish a written statement setting out the factors it will take into account in assessing a customer's ability to pay. This must, inter alia, address how income and expenditure is to be assessed, including details of the types of income which are acceptable.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the (a) accuracy and (b) clarity of the universal credit payment statements provided to claimants.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to increase the (a) accuracy and (b) clarity of the universal credit payment statements provided to claimants.

Alok Sharma: Universal Credit (UC) has been designed with accessibility and accuracy in mind and we are committed to providing personalised support for all claimants. Most people claiming UC will be able to access and navigate the internet, to make and maintain their UC account. The Department delivers UC in a way which responds to the needs of those who are supported by it. UC payment statements have been designed to give claimants a relevant breakdown of their award, including details of any outstanding debt and the reason for deductions. Every UC award is calculated based on the circumstances of individuals during each assessment period, taking into account savings, assets and income. Further enhancements will be introduced in the future to make UC payment statements even easier to understand, with a particular focus on making it clearer when amounts are deducted and whether people are being paid as a single person or as part of a couple. Claimants will be able to access a ‘blank’ statement, available through their online account as soon as their claim is received, allowing them to view expected entitlements based on what information has been submitted.

Universal Credit: Appeals

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of whether the information provided to universal credit claimants, who request reasons for a decision, meets the statutory requirements that it should (a) be adequate to allow a challenge to the decision, if appropriate and (b) inform claimants of their right to challenge the decision.

Alok Sharma: The decision notice sent to the claimant explains not only their dispute rights but also that they can request a statement of reasons for the decision made. That will not only be a comprehensive explanation for the decision, as required in law, but it will also remind the claimant of their dispute rights, including the time limit for making any dispute.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to give staff who advise universal credit claimants access to benefit calculations to enable them to provide better support.

Alok Sharma: Claimants and Jobcentre staff can access benefit calculators via the gov.uk website. This includes links to three independent calculators and advice on the type of information required to complete a calculation. https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators The independent benefits calculators we endorse are intended to provide useful estimations of what people can get in certain circumstances, based on what information is entered on the calculators themselves. This is to allow people to safely explore what help they may receive from Universal Credit before they apply, or based on potential changes of circumstances.

Pensions

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has plans to introduce the Pensions Bill before summer 2019.

Guy Opperman: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Security Benefits: Coventry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by administrative errors made by her Department which led to the overpayment of benefits in Coventry.

Will Quince: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is focused on paying people their correct entitlement. Administrative errors are referred to as ‘official errors’ which have arisen from processing errors or delays by DWP or a Local Authority. A quality checking regime is in place and this is helping address official error. National Statistics Fraud and Error 2018/19 published 9 May 2019, indicate that estimated losses from official error account for 0.4% of total benefit expenditure. Internal Management Information shows that 48k claimants with a CV postcode had an actual ‘official error’ overpayment in 2018/19.

Housing Benefit: Domestic Abuse

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the discretionary housing payment funding allocated to claimants affected by domestic abuse in each of the last three years.

Will Quince: Information on claimants affected by domestic abuse is not available to make an estimate of Discretionary Housing Payment funding allocated to domestic abuse victims due to data sensitivity. DHP guidance highlights the use of the fund in supporting victims of domestic abuse to move to a place of safety.

Social Security Benefits: EU Nationals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the (a) Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (England) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, (b) Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and (c) Social Security (Income-related Benefits) (Updating and Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 on the right of people with pre-settled status to access public funds.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she had with stakeholder groups representing EEA citizens on the (a) Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (England) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, (b) Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and (c) Social Security (Income-related Benefits) (Updating and Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

Alok Sharma: The Government has always been clear that EU, EEA and Swiss nationals and their family members granted status through the EU Settlement Scheme will be able to continue their lives in the UK much as before, with the same entitlements as now to access benefits, social housing and homelessness assistance services. Those granted pre-settled status under the scheme will not have any change in their entitlement to access benefits and services. A consultation has not been carried out as these regulations do not reflect a change in the existing rules or government policy and therefore will not have any adverse effects. These regulations provide legal clarity to claimants, applicants, decision makers and local authorities, delivering continuity and ensuring that the existing rules are applied fairly.

Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Office for National Statistics' personal and economic well-being in the UK data series, what estimate she has made of the proportion of (a) people that are long-term sick and (b) disabled people that suffer from low personal wellbeing.

Justin Tomlinson: The proportions of individuals aged 16-64 in the UK who reported low personal wellbeing, in January-December 2018, by long-term health and disability status, are given in the table below.  Long-term health conditionDisabledAll aged 16-64Life satisfaction9.7%13.8%4.5%Feel activities worthwhile7.8%11.4%3.7%Happiness14.4%19.2%8.4%Anxiety29.5%35.7%20.3% Notes:Estimates are based on the same data source (Annual Population Survey), time period (January-December 2018) and geographical coverage (UK) as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publication referenced in the question: Personal and economic well-being in the UK: April 2019 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/personalandeconomicwellbeingintheuk/april2019#while-average-anxiety-levels-reached-a-three-year-low-in-2018-about-103-million-people-continued-to-report-high-anxiety-scores).While overall wellbeing estimates published by the ONS cover all adults aged 16 years and over, the breakdowns presented here are limited to those aged 16-64, because most people aged 65 and over are not asked the disability and health questions in this Survey.Following ONS methodology, personal wellbeing is defined not as a single measure, but the four separate measures of life satisfaction, feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile, happiness and anxiety. These scores are self-reported by survey respondents on an 11-point scale, from 0 to 10. “Low” personal wellbeing is defined as those who report a score of 0-4 on life satisfaction, feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile, or happiness, or a score of 6-10 on anxiety.Personal well-being scores are reported by respondents at the time of interview, including how happy or anxious they were “yesterday”, so the respondents identified in this analysis do not necessarily “suffer from” low personal well-being over an extended period.Differences in proportions do not necessarily imply a direct causal relationship.People with long-term health conditions are defined as those who report any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expecting to last 12 months or more.Disabled people are defined as those who report a long-term health condition that reduces their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This is the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonised Principle, in line with the Equality Act 2010.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the proportion of rejected claims for personal independence payments that were overturned at tribunal stage in each year since 2014.

Justin Tomlinson: The requested information is shown in the table below: Volume of initial decisions where PIP was disallowed, and the number & proportion of these decisions that were Overturned at the appeal Stage, by year of initial decision.Financial Year of Initial DecisionVolume of PIP Claims DisallowedDecisions Overturned at AppealPercentage of Initial Decisions Overturned at Appeal2014/15275,09012,7305%2015/16324,85022,3207%2016/17390,21036,2209%2017/18392,28029,4208%2018/19 (Apr- Dec18)282,2803,4101% Source: PIP Computer System Since PIP was introduced 3.9m decisions have been made up to December 2018, of these 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned.Data has been rounded to the nearest 10, and the nearest percent respectively.This data is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.Disallowances include those both pre-referral and post-referral to an Assessment Provider.An appeal can only be made against a decision which has gone through the Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) process. The figures above will include decisions which have been changed at MR to award PIP, and where the claimant continues to appeal for a higher PIP award, and are then changed again at tribunal appeal.Decisions overturned at appeal may include a number of appeals that have been lapsed (which is where DWP changed the decision after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at Tribunal).Claimants who have received benefit decisions more recently may not yet have had time to complete the claimant journey and progress to appeal.

Universal Credit

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to ensure provision of out of working hours appointments to universal credit claimants who work during working hours.

Alok Sharma: Universal Credit is a 24 hour, seven days a week, digital service that allows claimants to manage their own data and account online at a time which is convenient for them. Via their account claimants can check their Universal Credit benefit payments, notify us of changes and record notes via an online journal facility. In addition, established claimants who call the Freephone Universal Credit helpline are connected directly to the person or team who are dealing with the case. We are aware that some claimants who are working may find it difficult to access our Jobcentre Plus Service due to their work commitments, however, not all Universal Credit claimants are required to attend interviews at their local Jobcentre. This will depend on their individual personal circumstances. For claimants whose earnings are above the individual or household Conditionality Earnings Threshold or the Administrative Earnings Threshold there is no conditionality requirement to attend interviews with a Work Coach. Where a voluntary interview is necessary to verify evidence, claimants are able to arrange the most convenient date and time with their Work Coach or Case Manager.

Members: Correspondence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to respond to the letter of 4 February 2019 to the Minister of State for Employment from the hon. Member for Slough on the case of a constituent, reference MC2019/06124.

Justin Tomlinson: I replied to the hon. Member on 8 May 2019.

Television: Licensing

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free television licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Glasgow South West constituency, (b) Glasgow City local authority area and (c) Scotland in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.

Guy Opperman: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Unemployment

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of children in workless households.

Will Quince: There are an estimated 1.2 million children living in workless households in the UK, down 67,000 on the year and down 665,000 since 2010. There are now a third less children living in workless households than in 2010.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Electronic Training Aids

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to bring forward legislation to ban the use of electronic shock collars.

David Rutley: The Government will introduce the necessary legislation in due course.

Birds: Pest Control

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what processes his Department has put in place for the issue of new general licences for avian pest control.

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to issue General Licences for avian pest control.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Secretary of State has taken over ultimate decision making powers for general licences relating to the purposes covered by the three revoked general licences. The Secretary of State will consider the present situation with intensity and urgency; his priority is getting this right. The Government has issued a call for evidence https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defra-launches-call-for-evidence-on-decision-to-revoke-general-licences to help our consideration of the issues of new general licences.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Secondment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many civil servants in his Department have been seconded to (a) the Department for Exiting the European Union and (b) the Department for International Trade in each of the last three years.

David Rutley: Between June 2016 and March 2018 a total of 11 civil servants have been loaned to the Department for Exiting the European Union and the Department for International Trade. These staff were loaned on two year contracts, some of which have already come to an end. All the outstanding DExEU loans are due to end in 2018/19, with the DIT loans due to end in 2020/21. Civil servants are loaned between other Government departments rather than seconded. Both departments were only formed in July 2016, therefore there is no data prior to this date.

Solid Fuels: Prices

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with retailers on all solid fuel prices across England as part of his Department’s consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: During the consultation period various respondents sent in their own price analyses. These note that there are price differentials associated with volumes purchased and seasonality as well as between differing locations across England. We are taking this information into account as we develop our analysis.

Solid Fuels: Prices

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what consultation his Department has undertaken with the Competition and Markets Authority regarding competition in the solid fuel market in England as part of his Department’s consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Defra has not held discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority as part of its consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood.

Grouse Moors

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost to the public purse is of subsidies for grouse moor management; and what assessment he has made of the effect of those subsidies on the economy.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Government does not make subsidies available specifically for grouse moor management, although such land may qualify for Basic Payment Scheme payments and environmental schemes.

Pheasants: Imports

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many pheasant (a) eggs for hatching and (b) live birds were imported into England from each (a) EU and (b) third country in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many partridge (a) eggs for hatching and (b) live birds were imported into England from each (a) EU country and (b) third country in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

David Rutley: The number of pheasant hatching eggs and live birds imported into England from the EU between 1 May 2018 and 30 April 2019 was: SpeciesCommodityCountry Of OriginTotalPartridgeLive BirdsFrance1,722,269  Spain465,168Partridge Total2,187,437PheasantHatching EggsFrance17,627,250  Poland1,241,460  Portugal142,630  Spain767,260 Live BirdsBelgium12,000  France5,382,706  Ireland1,000Pheasant Total25,174,306 The number of pheasant hatching eggs and live birds imported into the UK from third countries between 1 May 2018 and 30 April 2019 was: Hatching eggs – 54,600Live birds – 5,250 All imports were from the USA. There are no recorded figures for partridge hatching eggs imported from the EU. In addition, there were no imports of partridge live birds or hatching eggs from third countries. The Animal and Plant Health Agency is not able to determine how many of the above imports from third countries were imported into England.

Agriculture: Diversification

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support farmers to create a sustainable diversified farming system.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Agriculture Bill will help farmers in England to grow strong and diversified businesses producing high quality food in a more sustainable way, enhancing the environment for future generations. We will create an ambitious new system based on paying “public money for public goods”, which will include improving air and water quality, biodiversity and habitats for wildlife. Financial support for innovations like precision farming can also help farmers become more productive, reduce the use of expensive chemicals and protect the environment.

Hares Preservation Act 1892

George Eustice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the current maximum penalty is for a breach of the Hares Preservation Act 1892.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The current maximum penalty for a breach of the Hares Preservation Act 1892 is level 1 on the standard scale, i.e. £200.

Hedges and Ditches

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to protect hedgerows as habitats for wildlife; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green, Catherine West, on 15 April 2019 to PQ 242911.

Diesel Engines: Urban Areas

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to limit the use of diesel generators in town centres.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Government currently regulates the use of generators with a thermal input of over 1 megawatt in order to minimise the negative impact on air quality, in particular nitrogen oxide emissions. The Clean Air Strategy, published earlier this year, recognises the scope for potentially tighter controls in the future, both in terms of size of generator and level of emissions. It also commits to exploring the use of environmental permitting for significant non-road mobile machinery sources where appropriate, including generators.

Food: Packaging

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage major supermarket chains to stop using plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations already require all retailers to ensure that all their packaging does not exceed what is needed to make sure the products are safe, hygienic and acceptable for both the packed product and for the consumer. As part of the Resources and Waste Strategy, we have committed to review the effectiveness of these regulations by the end of next year. We are also consulting on reforms to the way we manage packaging waste. We have set out in our consultation options for how we want to enhance the incentive for producers to make better packaging design choices. Plastic packaging for some fruit and vegetables can extend their shelf life, which can help to reduce food waste.

Home Office

Educational Testing Service

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions (a) he and (b) officials of his Department have met with representatives from ETS in each year since 2016.

Caroline Nokes: Details of meetings with ETS representatives is not held centrally. Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of Ministerial meetings are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Gov.uk website:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/home-office-ministers-hospitality-data#history I can, however, confirm that officials met with representatives from ETS Global BV in 2017 to discuss settlement of the legal action the Department had brought against the company. More recently discussions with ETS have focused on the ongoing criminal trials of those believed to have helped organise and facilitate fraudulent activity.

Overseas Students: English Language

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many students have taken the TOEIC English language test since 2016.

Caroline Nokes: ETS were removed from the list of approved test providers for immigration purposes on 1 July 2014. A current list of tests and test centres approved by UK Visas and Immigration to show that applicants have the required level of English for their visa is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-applying-for-uk-visa-approved-english-language-tests

Domestic Abuse

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to begin its review of the effectiveness of the controlling or coercive behaviour offence; and if he will consult specialist violence against women and girls organisations as part of that review.

Victoria Atkins: On 21 January we published our landmark draft Domestic Abuse Bill and consultation response which will transform the cross-Government response to this devastating crime. In our consultation response we committed to review the effectiveness of the coercive or controlling behaviour offence to ensure it is fit for purpose and that it adequately protects victims from abuse.We are in the early stages of establishing the terms of reference for the review, and will be consulting with relevant Government and external stakeholders accordingly.

Police: Pensions

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the treatment of survivor pensions for police widows and widowers is different from that of such pensions for the widows and widowers of armed forces personnel.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Government believes that there is a specific justification for allowing all surviving partners of Armed Forces Pension Scheme members to retain their survivor’s pension for life. The combination of risk to life in the execution of duty and disruption to family life is unique to Armed Forces personnel.The Government has accepted that the arguments were compelling in respect of police officers who have died as a result of an injury on duty. Changes to the Police Pension Scheme were made with effect from April 2015 to allow surviving spouses or civil partners of those police officers to receive survivor benefits for life.

Police: Pensions

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the treatment of survivor pensions for police widows and widowers is different from that of such pensions for the widows and widowers of armed forces personnel.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Government believes that there is a specific justification for allowing all surviving partners of Armed Forces Pension Scheme members to retain their survivor’s pension for life. The combination of risk to life in the execution of duty and disruption to family life is unique to Armed Forces personnel.The Government has accepted that the arguments were compelling in respect of police officers who have died as a result of an injury on duty. Chang-es to the Police Pension Scheme were made with effect from April 2015 to allow surviving spouses or civil partners of those police officers to receive survivor benefits for life.

Home Office: Emerdata

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether (a) his Department, (b) his Department's agencies and (c) his Department's associated public bodies have entered into contracts with Emerdata Limited in the last year.

Victoria Atkins: Our records show that neither; (a) the Home Department, (b) the Department’s agencies, or (c) the Department’s associated public bodies have entered into any contracts with Emerdata Limited in the last year.Home Office are committed to the HMT Transparency Agenda and EU Competition regulations and therefore all contract requirements and awards that exceed the EU procurement directives' financial thresholds are advertised in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) via contract notices. Furthermore, all requirements and contract awards over £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder at this link: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder .

Home Office: Secondment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many civil servants in his Department have been seconded to (a) the Department for Exiting the European Union and (b) the Department for International Trade in each of the last three years.

Victoria Atkins: Please see the table below for the current numbers of civil servants that have temporarily moved out of the department to take up posts at DIT or DExEU in each of the last 3 years. The information provided is a list of current/active transfers that commenced in each of the three years. It is not possible to provide total numbers across the time period as the data on those that transferred out of the department but have since returned is not available.YearDepartment for Exiting the European UnionDepartment for International Trade2018/19962017/18452016/1711Total1412

Visas: Ministers of Religion

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish a response to Early Day Motion (a) 2358 on Changes to visa requirements for religious workers and (b) 2362 on Tier 5 visas for ministers of religion.

Caroline Nokes: The Government very much values the importance of religious and cultural expression to our communities in the UK and we continue to welcome Ministers of Religion from all faiths who wish to come to the UK in accordance with our Immigration Rules.There are two routes for Religious Workers in the current immigration system.Tier 2 Ministers of Religion is for those playing a leading role as faith leaders in our religious institutions. This category requires those coming to have a strong command of the English language in order to ensure Ministers of Religion can lead their congregations effectively and can interact with the wider communities they serve.The second route, Tier 5 Religious Workers, is for those undertaking non-pastoral roles supporting the activities of these institutions. In line with our other temporary work categories, Tier 5 Religious Workers are not required to demonstrate their English language skills when applying for a visa.We have taken steps to prevent our temporary work categories being used as a means to live in the UK for longer periods. Tier 5 is designed to facilitate short periods of knowledge sharing and cultural exchange and yet we have identified evidence of migrants using our Tier 5 Religious Worker and Charity Worker routes to facilitate near continuous residence in the UK.We made changes to the Immigration Rules in October 2018 to preclude the use of Tier 5 by minister of Religion and to introduce a ‘cooling off period’, preventing Tier 5 Religious worker and Tier 5 Charity Worker visa holders from returning to the UK, via these immigration routes, for 12 months after their visa expires. This approach underpins the Government’s intention that these are temporary routes.Bona fide Ministers of Religion are still welcome to come to the UK and that there remains a route for them in the immigration system through Tier 2.The Government wrote to faith leaders in December, setting out the detail and explaining the rationale for the changes. Officials remain in regular contact with stakeholders and we are embarking on an extensive programme of engagement, in connection with the future immigration system.

Asylum: Religion

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of  26 March 2019 to Question 235381 on Asylum: Religion, what progress his Department has made on investigating reports that asylum refusals have included quotations from religious texts; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Nokes: After reports indicated that an asylum decision included quotations from religious texts and was not drafted in accordance with Home Office policy guidance, Asylum Operations conducted an investigation into this matter. A small number of religious conversion cases were sampled, and no further cases were identified during this sampling exercise.All such decisions are currently subject to further scrutiny, pending the roll out of additional specialist training, which has been developed in collaboration with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for International Freedom of Religion or Belief.The Asylum Learning and Development Team started to deliver the specialist training package on religious claims on Monday 8 April, which will be mandatory for all asylum decision-makers.

Firearms: Licensing

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with police forces on potential changes to the firearms licensing policy to require a medical declaration; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd: Following the introduction of new medical arrangements for firearms licensing in 2016 we have been in discussions with the police, the relevant medical bodies and representatives of shooting organisations about improving the arrangements, and how greater consistency can be achieved across England and Wales.The Policing and Crime Act 2017 introduced a power to enable the Secretary of State to issue statutory guidance to the police on their firearms licensing functions, and this guidance will include the relevant medical arrangements. Before issuing the statutory guidance, the Secretary of State must consult the National Police Chiefs Council and the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland, and we will also consult publicly on the guidance before it is finalised. The Government intends to launch the consultation on the statutory guidance before the summer recess.

Animal Experiments: Primates

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what primates were used in animal experimentation; and from which countries in each of the last three years figures are available.

Mr Ben Wallace: Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain are published on an annual basis. The reports for the last three years are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-of-scientific-procedures-on-living-animals.The number of non-human primates used for the first time in procedures in that year is given in Table 1a of the data tables published in each of the last three statistical reports.The place of birth of non-human primates used for the first time in experimental procedures by species in that year is given in Table 2.2 of the data tables published in each of the last three statistical reports. Place of birth is presented by whether the animals were born in the UK, EU, Asia, America, Africa or elsewhere. Data are not collected on the specific country of birth.

Immigrants: Employment

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many employers have used the digital checking service for right to work checks since its launch.

Caroline Nokes: Statistics on use of the online right to work service will be published as part of the Home Office’s Transparency Data by the end of the year.

101 Calls: Fees and Charges

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total amount of charges to people for calls made to the 101 line was in each year since that line has been in operation.

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make calls to the police on the non-emergency 101 number free of charge or require that all funds raised from those call charges be allocated towards frontline policing.

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of calls made to the police on the non-emergency 101 number are terminated by the caller while they are waiting for a person to answer that call.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold information on total amount of charges for calls to 101.The Home Office is reviewing charges for the 101 non-emergency telephone number.While it may not be an option for everyone, the public can also report non-emergency crimes online via forces’ websites, free of charge. The Home Office is supporting the digital transformation of policing through programmes such as the Digital Policing Portfolio (DPP), led by the NPCC. Within the DPP, the Digital Public Contact programme aims to provide appropriate digital channels for the public to report and track crime online, facilitating greater public-police interaction in real time.The Home Office does not hold data on calls to 101 terminated by the caller.

Biometrics: Edinburgh

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effect of the requirement for people from Edinburgh to travel to Glasgow for biometric enrolment facilities on (a) disabled applicants, (b) applications for family visas and (c) people of limited means; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Nokes: UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service (UK VCAS) centres are run by Sopra Steria Ltd (SSL) on behalf of UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI). Sopra Steria, undertook market research to identify initial service locations; their research included the impact on customer travel time, cost and accessibility. There are currently six core sites across the UK at which application submission services are offered free of charge and beyond that, SSL offer a range of enhanced services in a further 50 locations. These services enable customers to submit their biometric information (photo and fingerprints) and supporting evidence in one location. 62% of customers will, on average, have to travel less than 25 miles to visit a core service centre, with 78% travelling less than 50 miles. Appointments may be offered for individual customers and/or family groups to enrol their biometrics together.SSL continue to assess customer demand, working closely with UKVI, and are planning to open a further 6 enhanced service locations throughout May and June, one of which will be offered in Edinburgh.SSL are required to provide locations that comply with the Equality Act 2010 (including full compliance with the disability discrimination provisions) and biometric capture solutions are suitable for different customer groups, including customers with disabilities.For customers who are eligible to apply using the Service and Support Centres (SSCs), it is estimated that 62% of customers will be within 30 miles of their nearest service centre and customers who meet certain criteria, which may include people of limited means; will be able to apply for travel assistance.

Animal Experiments

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which animals have been licensed for animal experimentation in the UK for any of the last three years figures which are available.

Mr Ben Wallace: All animal species that were used in regulated procedures in Great Britain can be found in Table 1 of the data tables published within the ‘Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals’ statistical reports.https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-of-scientific-procedures-on-living-animalsThere is a further breakdown, for the 2017 year only, of those included within the ‘other’ species categories. This can be found within Table 12 of the data tables published in the 2017 statistical report.https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-of-scientific-procedures-on-living-animals-great-britain-2017In 2017, the majority of experimental procedures used mice, fish and rats. Together these three species accounted for 87% of experimental procedures in Great BritainFor Northern Ireland, the Department of Health separately collects and publishes information on regulated procedures under devolved arrangementsThe animal species used in regulated procedures in Northern Ireland can also be found in Table 1 of the data tables published within the ‘Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Northern Ireland’ reports. https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/statistics-scientific-procedures-living-animals-northern-ireland

Windrush Generation: Compensation

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to ensure that Windrush compensation scheme payments will not be taken into account in eligibility assessments for means-tested benefits.

Caroline Nokes: The Government Response to the Windrush Consultation states at paragraph 4.50 on page 39 that we will exempt Windrush compensation payments from the calculation for income related benefits. The Home Office has been working with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions to action this.

Asylum: Applications

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the average time taken by his Department to make a decision on an asylum application in each of the last ten years.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office does not publish data on the average time taken to make a decision on an asylum application in each of the last ten years, nor is that information available in a retrievable format. However, the Home Office do publish data on the number of pending applications that have been awaiting an initial decision for more or less than 6 months. This data can be found at Volume 1, as_01 of the Immigration Statistics December 2018:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2018/list-of-tables#asylum

Free Movement of People: Arts and Musicians

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure the maintenance of freedom of movement for touring (a) musicians and (a) artists; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a two-year multi-entry visa for those people.

Caroline Nokes: While the government is clear that free movement will end when we leave the EU, we are aware that continued access to international talent and the ability for UK talent to tour are key concerns for the cultural and creative sectors.Non-EEA musicians and artists can currently enter the UK through a range of routes. Standard visitors can be paid for their participation at Permit Free Festivals for up to six months, Permitted Paid Engagement visitors can undertake various engagements for up to one month and the Tier 5 (Creative and Sporting) route permits artists, performers and their entourage to work in the UK. Tier 5 visas are granted for up to 12 months and can be extended for up to a maximum of 2 years in the UK.The Home Office has launched a year-long engagement programme on the proposals in the White Paper on our future skills-based immigration system. The Home Office is working with DCMS and creative and cultural industries throughout this process so that Government approaches policy well informed by those working in the sector.

Undocumented Migrants: Detainees

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to implement a statutory limit for the length of time suspected illegal immigrants can be detained.

Caroline Nokes: As Stephen Shaw noted in his follow up review of the welfare of vulnerable people in immigration detention, the debate on a time limit for immigration de-tention rests mainly on slogans rather than evidence. My rt. hon. Friend the Home Secretary has commissioned an internal review of how time limits work in other countries and how these relate to any other protections within the de-tention systems in those countries.

Entry Clearances: Biometrics

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) accuracy, and (b) ability of facial recognition technology used at airports.to distinguish between identical twins and other siblings of similar appearance.

Caroline Nokes: Facial recognition technology employed by Border Force at airports is regularly assessed to ensure that it is operating within operational parameters agreed by ministers. The technology employs a matching algorithm to distinguish between individuals to confirm identity. There has been no specific research undertaken by Border Force or Home Office Biometrics into the ability of facial recognition algorithms to distinguish between identical twins or sib-lings who look very alike.

Theft: Wales

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of reported incidents of (a) burglary and (b) petty theft in Wales in the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: We are committed to tackling all forms of acquisitive crime, including burglary. The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service chaired the first meeting of a new Burglary Taskforce which brings together the police, industry, charities and others to look at what more can be done to tackle this crime.The Office for National Statistics publishes on a quarterly basis the numbers of crimes reported to and recorded to the four police forces in Wales. Data can be found in the police force area tables: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/policeforceareadatatablesThis includes breakdowns of burglary and other types of theft. There is no specific classification of ‘petty theft’ and such incidents will be included across a range of theft types.

Visas: Sponsorship

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the number of companies in the (a) digital, (b) arts and (c) sports sectors registered to sponsor immigration visas of any tier with a view to ensuring preparedness in the sector for the new immigration system after the UK leaves the EU.

Caroline Nokes: In December 2018, the Government set out its proposals in “The UK’s future Skills-based Immigration System” White Paper, which is due to come into force from January 2021.We are determined to ensure that the future immigration system is efficient and able to respond to users’ needs, and as proposed in the White Paper, we will reform existing sponsorship arrangements – streamlining, simplifying and minimising bureaucracy.The Government values the positive contribution made to the UK by the digital, arts and sporting sectors and we want this to continue. We will ensure that the new system continues to support the UK’s thriving cultural and sporting life and will also explore options to support start-up companies in our new, expanding digital technology sector.The White Paper is the start of a conversation and we hav launched a year-long engagement programme to take the views of a range of stakeholders across the UK, including the digital, arts and sporting sectors.

UK Visas and Immigration: Staff

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum decision makers are employed in asylum operations offices in (a) Bootle, (b) Croydon, (c) Leeds, (d) Liverpool,  (e) Newcastle and (f) Solihull.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (a) how many and (b) what proportion of Asylum Decision Makers are employed on permanent contracts.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Asylum Decision Makers have had their six-month probation contracts as advertised extended in (a) 2018 and (b) 2019.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum decision maker posts are currently vacant.

Caroline Nokes: As of week ending 10 May 2019, the number of asylum decision makers that are currently employed in asylum operations offices in (a) Bootle, (b) Croydon, (c) Leeds, (d) Liverpool, (e) Newcastle and (f) Solihull are:Bootle 113.76 FTE Croydon 69.40 FTELeeds 54.37 FTELiverpool 57.66 FTENewcastle 32.64 FTESolihull 34.16 FTETotal 362.00 FTEAdditionally, the Home Office currently employs 171.40 FTE decision makers in other locations; a total of 533.40 FTE. Of the 533.40 FTE are employed, 532.40 FTE are on permanent contracts and 1.00 FTE is employed on a Fixed Term Appointment (FTA) contract. The Home Office is currently recruiting and working towards 632.00 FTE asylum decision makers.The Home Office is unable to report how many asylum decision makers have had their six-month probation contracts as advertised extended in (a) 2018 and (b) 2019, as to obtain this information would require a manual trawl and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.

101 Calls: Fees and Charges

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of abolishing the charge for phone calls to the 101 non emergency number.

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to abolish the 15 pence charge for 101 calls to the emergency services.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office is reviewing charges for the 101 non-emergency telephone number.While it may not be an option for everyone, the public can also report non-emergency crimes online via forces’ websites, free of charge.  The Home Office is supporting the digital transformation of policing through programmes such as the Digital Policing Portfolio (DPP), led by the NPCC. Within the DPP, the Digital Public Contact programme aims to provide appropriate digital channels for the public to report and track crime online, facilitating greater public-police interaction in real time.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Bullying

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what estimate he has made of the number of cases of bullying and harassment that have been recorded against managers in his Department in each of the last five years.

Kevin Foster: The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales (OSSW) has recorded no cases of bullying or harassment in the last five years. The Office is committed to ensuring staff are treated with dignity and respect, and that any concerns raised by staff are listened to and dealt with appropriately. We have a zero tolerance approach to bullying and harassment.

Church Commissioners

Christianity: Africa

Jim Shannon: To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church of England is taking to tackle the persecution of Christians in African countries; and what steps the Church of England is taking with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to highlight the persecution of Christians in those countries.

Dame Caroline Spelman: The Church of England mission agencies are supporting partner churches and communities in Africa to help them address the challenges of inter-religious living. The submission by the Church of England and the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales to the Foreign Secretary’s independent review into persecuted Christians sets out recommendations as to the steps that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office can take to support Christian communities and other religious whose right to freedom of religion or belief is being impinged.The submission from the Church of England can be read here: https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/news/latest-news/anglicans-and-catholics-make-joint-submission-foreign-office-review-persecuted

Overseas Aid: Sri Lanka

Jim Shannon: To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions the Church of England has had with the Department for International Development on ensuring aid reaches people in Sri Lanka who need it most.

Dame Caroline Spelman: The Church of England has had no discussions with the Department for International Development on aid to Sri Lanka, but the Diocese of Leeds which has had a companion link with Sri Lanka for nearly 40 years, is in regular contact with the Anglican church of Sri Lanka, as to how best the Church can contribute to human flourishing in Sri Lanka.

Cabinet Office

Counter-terrorism: Pakistan

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Government’s Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative in Pakistan on the number of people who have been sentenced to death in those courts.

Mr David Lidington: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) takes its responsibility to do no harm very seriously. All CSSF programmes comply with the UK’s domestic and international human rights obligations and have robust measures in place to protect the human rights of beneficiaries. In order for programme teams to be able to assess the risks of UK activity that could affect human rights, all security and justice assistance is subject to Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJAs). The OSJA is a risk management system used across Government to assess risk and consider what mitigation might be appropriate. The OSJA Guidance specifies at what point Ministerial approval is required. In order to determine the effectiveness of project activity, all CSSF programmes are subject to Annual Reviews, which score how effectively programmes have delivered their outputs and outcomes. In making an assessment the Annual Review considers how programme teams manage commercial partnerships, risk and budgets, adapt to changing contexts, , as well as assessing value for money. The Joint Funds Unit (JFU) plans to publish the Rule of Law 2017/18 Annual Review summary before the end of this Parliamentary session. Minister Field, the FCO Minister responsible for South Asia, receives regular updates on the risks associated with the Rule of Law programme’s activities. In addition, I reviewed all the relevant programme documentation, ahead of it being shared with the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, who have taken an interest in this programme and requested further, sensitive documents on it. The OSJA covering the Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative was fully reviewed in December 2018. Completed OSJA checklists are sensitive internal documents providing an assessment of the human rights situation in a country at a given time and are regularly updated. These are not published. The Information Commissioner has previously reviewed and agreed with a Government decision not to disclose an OSJA on Pakistan. Last year the JFU commissioned an independent OSJA audit, in order to get a better understanding of how they are used across the CSSF. The audit itself contains a number of sensitive in-depth samples of OSJAs and therefore there are no plans to publish the audit.

Pakistan: Rule of Law

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the most recent Annual Review which was conducted for the Rule of Law Programme in Pakistan.

Mr David Lidington: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) takes its responsibility to do no harm very seriously. All CSSF programmes comply with the UK’s domestic and international human rights obligations and have robust measures in place to protect the human rights of beneficiaries. In order for programme teams to be able to assess the risks of UK activity that could affect human rights, all security and justice assistance is subject to Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJAs). The OSJA is a risk management system used across Government to assess risk and consider what mitigation might be appropriate. The OSJA Guidance specifies at what point Ministerial approval is required. In order to determine the effectiveness of project activity, all CSSF programmes are subject to Annual Reviews, which score how effectively programmes have delivered their outputs and outcomes. In making an assessment the Annual Review considers how programme teams manage commercial partnerships, risk and budgets, adapt to changing contexts, , as well as assessing value for money. The Joint Funds Unit (JFU) plans to publish the Rule of Law 2017/18 Annual Review summary before the end of this Parliamentary session. Minister Field, the FCO Minister responsible for South Asia, receives regular updates on the risks associated with the Rule of Law programme’s activities. In addition, I reviewed all the relevant programme documentation ahead of it being shared with the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, who have taken an interest in this programme and requested further, sensitive documents on it. The OSJA covering the Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative was fully reviewed in December 2018. Completed OSJA checklists are sensitive internal documents providing an assessment of the human rights situation in a country at a given time and are regularly updated. These are not published. The Information Commissioner has previously reviewed and agreed with a Government decision not to disclose an OSJA on Pakistan. Last year the JFU commissioned an independent OSJA audit, in order to get a better understanding of how they are used across the CSSF. The audit itself contains a number of sensitive in-depth samples of OSJAs and therefore there are no plans to publish the audit.

Counter-terrorism: Pakistan

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it her policy to commission a review of the effectiveness of UK’s Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative in Pakistan.

Mr David Lidington: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) takes its responsibility to do no harm very seriously. All CSSF programmes comply with the UK’s domestic and international human rights obligations and have robust measures in place to protect the human rights of beneficiaries. In order for programme teams to be able to assess the risks of UK activity that could affect human rights, all security and justice assistance is subject to Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJAs). The OSJA is a risk management system used across Government to assess risk and consider what mitigation might be appropriate. The OSJA Guidance specifies at what point Ministerial approval is required. In order to determine the effectiveness of project activity, all CSSF programmes are subject to Annual Reviews, which score how effectively programmes have delivered their outputs and outcomes. In making an assessment the Annual Review considers how programme teams manage commercial partnerships, risk and budgets, adapt to changing contexts, , as well as assessing value for money. The Joint Funds Unit (JFU) plans to publish the Rule of Law 2017/18 Annual Review summary before the end of this Parliamentary session. Minister Field, the FCO Minister responsible for South Asia, receives regular updates on the risks associated with the Rule of Law programme’s activities. In addition, I reviewed all the relevant programme documentation ahead of it being shared with the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, who have taken an interest in this programme and requested further, sensitive documents on it. The OSJA covering the Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative was fully reviewed in December 2018. Completed OSJA checklists are sensitive internal documents providing an assessment of the human rights situation in a country at a given time and are regularly updated. These are not published. The Information Commissioner has previously reviewed and agreed with a Government decision not to disclose an OSJA on Pakistan. Last year the JFU commissioned an independent OSJA audit, in order to get a better understanding of how they are used across the CSSF. The audit itself contains a number of sensitive in-depth samples of OSJAs and therefore there are no plans to publish the audit.

Counter-terrorism: Pakistan

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative in Pakistan on conviction rates in the Pakistani anti-terror courts in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Mr David Lidington: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) takes its responsibility to do no harm very seriously. All CSSF programmes comply with the UK’s domestic and international human rights obligations and have robust measures in place to protect the human rights of beneficiaries. In order for programme teams to be able to assess the risks of UK activity that could affect human rights, all security and justice assistance is subject to Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJAs). The OSJA is a risk management system used across Government to assess risk and consider what mitigation might be appropriate. The OSJA Guidance specifies at what point Ministerial approval is required. In order to determine the effectiveness of project activity, all CSSF programmes are subject to Annual Reviews, which score how effectively programmes have delivered their outputs and outcomes. In making an assessment the Annual Review considers how programme teams manage commercial partnerships, risk and budgets, adapt to changing contexts, , as well as assessing value for money. The Joint Funds Unit (JFU) plans to publish the Rule of Law 2017/18 Annual Review summary before the end of this Parliamentary session. Minister Field, the FCO Minister responsible for South Asia, receives regular updates on the risks associated with the Rule of Law programme’s activities. In addition, I reviewed all the relevant programme documentation, ahead of it being shared with the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, who have taken an interest in this programme and requested further, sensitive documents on it. The OSJA covering the Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative was fully reviewed in December 2018. Completed OSJA checklists are sensitive internal documents providing an assessment of the human rights situation in a country at a given time and are regularly updated. These are not published. The Information Commissioner has previously reviewed and agreed with a Government decision not to disclose an OSJA on Pakistan. Last year the JFU commissioned an independent OSJA audit, in order to get a better understanding of how they are used across the CSSF. The audit itself contains a number of sensitive in-depth samples of OSJAs and therefore there are no plans to publish the audit.

Counter-terrorism: Pakistan

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the human rights risk assessments undertaken for the Government’s Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative in Pakistan in relation to the Government’s policy on Overseas Security and Justice Assistance.

Mr David Lidington: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) takes its responsibility to do no harm very seriously. All CSSF programmes comply with the UK’s domestic and international human rights obligations and have robust measures in place to protect the human rights of beneficiaries. In order for programme teams to be able to assess the risks of UK activity that could affect human rights, all security and justice assistance is subject to Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJAs). The OSJA is a risk management system used across Government to assess risk and consider what mitigation might be appropriate. The OSJA Guidance specifies at what point Ministerial approval is required. In order to determine the effectiveness of project activity, all CSSF programmes are subject to Annual Reviews, which score how effectively programmes have delivered their outputs and outcomes. In making an assessment the Annual Review considers how programme teams manage commercial partnerships, risk and budgets, adapt to changing contexts, , as well as assessing value for money. The Joint Funds Unit (JFU) plans to publish the Rule of Law 2017/18 Annual Review summary before the end of this Parliamentary session. Minister Field, the FCO Minister responsible for South Asia, receives regular updates on the risks associated with the Rule of Law programme’s activities. In addition, I reviewed all the relevant programme documentation ahead of it being shared with the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, who have taken an interest in this programme and requested further, sensitive documents on it. The OSJA covering the Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative was fully reviewed in December 2018. Completed OSJA checklists are sensitive internal documents providing an assessment of the human rights situation in a country at a given time and are regularly updated. These are not published. The Information Commissioner has previously reviewed and agreed with a Government decision not to disclose an OSJA on Pakistan. Last year the JFU commissioned an independent OSJA audit, in order to get a better understanding of how they are used across the CSSF. The audit itself contains a number of sensitive in-depth samples of OSJAs and therefore there are no plans to publish the audit.

Counter-terrorism: Pakistan

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what dates Ministerial approval was (a) sought and (b) given for human rights risk assessments carried out for the UK’s Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative in Pakistan under the OSJA policy.

Mr David Lidington: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) takes its responsibility to do no harm very seriously. All CSSF programmes comply with the UK’s domestic and international human rights obligations and have robust measures in place to protect the human rights of beneficiaries. In order for programme teams to be able to assess the risks of UK activity that could affect human rights, all security and justice assistance is subject to Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJAs). The OSJA is a risk management system used across Government to assess risk and consider what mitigation might be appropriate. The OSJA Guidance specifies at what point Ministerial approval is required. In order to determine the effectiveness of project activity, all CSSF programmes are subject to Annual Reviews, which score how effectively programmes have delivered their outputs and outcomes. In making an assessment the Annual Review considers how programme teams manage commercial partnerships, risk and budgets, adapt to changing contexts, , as well as assessing value for money. The Joint Funds Unit (JFU) plans to publish the Rule of Law 2017/18 Annual Review summary before the end of this Parliamentary session. Minister Field, the FCO Minister responsible for South Asia, receives regular updates on the risks associated with the Rule of Law programme’s activities. In addition, I reviewed all the relevant programme documentation ahead of it being shared with the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, who have taken an interest in this programme and requested further, sensitive documents on it. The OSJA covering the Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative was fully reviewed in December 2018. Completed OSJA checklists are sensitive internal documents providing an assessment of the human rights situation in a country at a given time and are regularly updated. These are not published. The Information Commissioner has previously reviewed and agreed with a Government decision not to disclose an OSJA on Pakistan. Last year the JFU commissioned an independent OSJA audit, in order to get a better understanding of how they are used across the CSSF. The audit itself contains a number of sensitive in-depth samples of OSJAs and therefore there are no plans to publish the audit.

Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the findings of the independent Overseas Security and Justice Assistance audit into the Conflict Stability and Security Fund commissioned by the Joint Funds Unit.

Mr David Lidington: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) takes its responsibility to do no harm very seriously. All CSSF programmes comply with the UK’s domestic and international human rights obligations and have robust measures in place to protect the human rights of beneficiaries. In order for programme teams to be able to assess the risks of UK activity that could affect human rights, all security and justice assistance is subject to Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJAs). The OSJA is a risk management system used across Government to assess risk and consider what mitigation might be appropriate. The OSJA Guidance specifies at what point Ministerial approval is required. In order to determine the effectiveness of project activity, all CSSF programmes are subject to Annual Reviews, which score how effectively programmes have delivered their outputs and outcomes. In making an assessment the Annual Review considers how programme teams manage commercial partnerships, risk and budgets, adapt to changing contexts, , as well as assessing value for money. The Joint Funds Unit (JFU) plans to publish the Rule of Law 2017/18 Annual Review summary before the end of this Parliamentary session. Minister Field, the FCO Minister responsible for South Asia, receives regular updates on the risks associated with the Rule of Law programme’s activities. In addition, I reviewed all the relevant programme documentation ahead of it being shared with the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, who have taken an interest in this programme and requested further, sensitive documents on it. The OSJA covering the Counter-Terrorism Associated Prosecutorial Reforms Initiative was fully reviewed in December 2018. Completed OSJA checklists are sensitive internal documents providing an assessment of the human rights situation in a country at a given time and are regularly updated. These are not published. The Information Commissioner has previously reviewed and agreed with a Government decision not to disclose an OSJA on Pakistan. Last year the JFU commissioned an independent OSJA audit, in order to get a better understanding of how they are used across the CSSF. The audit itself contains a number of sensitive in-depth samples of OSJAs and therefore there are no plans to publish the audit.

Cabinet Office: Emerdata

Deidre Brock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether (a) his Department, (b) his Department's agencies and (c) his Department's associated public bodies have entered into contracts with Emerdata Limited in the last year.

Oliver Dowden: Records of contracts above £10,000 in central government and £25,000 in the wider public sector are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search

Electronic Government: Proof of Identity

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2019 to Question 248768, whether his Department has any plans to allow Document Checking Service access to non-GOV.UK Verify identity providers.

Oliver Dowden: At this stage, the Document Checking Service is only available to GOV.UK Verify identity providers. However, we are aware there is demand to open up access to government data and are exploring opportunities in this area.

Public Sector: Procurement

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2019 to Question 245992, Public Sector: Procurement, whether his Department routinely monitor the proportion of public sector buyers that utilise the Digital Marketplace.

Oliver Dowden: All information concerning buyers that have used the Digital Marketplace is in the public domain. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/digital-marketplace-sales

European Parliament: Elections

Catherine West: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the process is for the suspension of the use of EC6/UC1 in certain circumstances.

Kevin Foster: The European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of Relevant Citizens of the Union) Regulations 2001 require EU citizens to provide a declaration before they can vote. These Regulations were made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 and implement Council Directive 93/109/EC which lays down the arrangements for EU citizens to vote and stand as candidates in another Member State. This is a requirement under EU law which is intended to prevent double voting across the EU.

Electoral Register: Young People

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whats steps the Government is taking to encourage young people to register to vote.

Kevin Foster: The Government is committed to respecting, protecting and promoting our democracy. We want to build upon recent record levels of individuals registering to vote and participating in elections. Our Register to Vote website is widely used by young people: over 7.83 million online applications have been submitted by 16-24 year olds since the service was introduced in 2014. Ahead of the General Election in June 2017 young people aged under 25 were particularly engaged, submitting over 1 million applications - more than 35% of all applications received in the pre-election period.   Since then we have taken further steps to promote democratic engagement amongst young people. Making use of the Suffrage Fund, we have delivered three projects to promote youth engagement: a scheme to recruit and train 1000 youth Democracy Ambassadors; the development and publication of a toolkit for parliamentarians to engage young people; and a new history and citizenship resource for secondary schools (www.suffrageresources.org.uk). The Government’s recent report, Democratic Engagement: Respecting, Protecting and Promoting Our Democracy, sets out how we work with partners to encourage democratic participation. This includes National Democracy Week, which convenes youth focused organisations such as the British Youth Council, UK Youth, Elevation Networks and Patchwork Foundation to deliver targeted democratic engagement activity. The report also highlights steps to help Higher Education providers work with local authorities to promote electoral registration amongst their student populations. DCMS provides funding for the UK Youth Parliament, Youth Select Committee and Make Your Mark ballot which support young people to raise issues on local and national levels. Make Your Mark is a ballot of youth views which gives the UK Youth Parliament its mandate and gets young people, aged 11-18, involved in democracy, with over 1 million young people voting in 2018. (http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk/makeyourmark/)

Elections: Proof of Identity

Cat Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost was to the public purse of the 2019 voter ID pilot schemes; and how much funding was allocated to each local authority that participated.

Kevin Foster: Voter ID is part of a body of work this Government is delivering to strengthen the integrity of our electoral system and give the public confidence that our elections are secure and fit for the 21st century.As was the case for the 2018 pilots, the 2019 pilot costs will be confirmed when they are known, which will be after the pilot authorities have completed their work. Funding for the additional cost of piloting voter ID will be provided to each local authority by the Cabinet Office.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Emma Dent Coad: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the implications for the Government's policies of the report entitled, Family reflections on Grenfell: No voice left unheard, published on 8 May 2019 by Inquest; and if she will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington: The Government set up the independent Grenfell Tower Inquiry to get to the truth of what happened, deliver justice for victims, survivors, bereaved families and the wider community, and to ensure that such a terrible tragedy could never happen again. The timing and handling of the Inquiry is a matter for the independent Inquiry and the Government hopes that the report for phase 1 will be published soon.

Business: ICT

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the public sector has the required IT infrastructure in place to enable a paperless society.

Oliver Dowden: The Government Digital Service works with departments across central government to build digital capability, develop and implement common tools and standards, and ensure government remains focused on the needs of end users when designing digital services. The Local Digital Declaration is a set of principles and commitments by which central and local government will work together to share tools and best practice in order to help get more public services online. Over 16 million customers now access their Personal Tax Account online; over 90% of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Association’s (DVLA) transactions (over 1 billion in 2017/18) are now completed online; and over 5.7 million people have used the voter registration digital service.

European Parliament: Elections

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of enabling EU citizens to present European Parliament Voter registration forms at polling stations on 23 May 2019 to ensure that they are not disfranchised following the time taken to announce the holding of European elections.

Kevin Foster: The latest date in which an EU citizen can submit a European Parliament Voter Registration Form to register as an elector in the European Parliament elections is 12 working days before the date of the election. The 12 working day deadline is based on two provisions relating to the application process and the publication of, and alterations to, the register before the election. The provisions are contained in section 13B of the Representation of the People Act 1983 and regulation 29 of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001; and the equivalent provisions in the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001 and Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008 as applied by Schedule 001 of the European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of Relevant Citizens of the Union) Regulations 2001. Council Directive 93/109/EC requires all Member States to send the details of any EU citizens’ declarations to their Home State to ensure an EU citizen does not vote twice, both here and in another EU country. The Council Directive specifies that this has to be done “sufficiently in advance of polling day”

European Parliament: Elections

Tom Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of EU nationals living in the UK registered to vote in European Parliament elections in (a) 2014 and (b) 2019.

Kevin Foster: The Cabinet Office does not hold information on the numbers of eligible electors nor information on the number of European nationals resident in the UK who register to vote in European Parliamentary elections. Estimates of the number of eligible people on the registers for electoral events are published by the Electoral Commission following each poll, but do not include a breakdown of the numbers of EU citizens eligible to vote. The report on the 2014 European Parliamentary elections was produced by the Electoral Commission in July 2014 and is available online at: www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Each Electoral Registration Officer maintains a register for their own local area. Some headline registration statistics by area are collated and published annually by the Office for National Statistics, however, this does not include a breakdown of the numbers of EU citizens registered to vote. The latest bulletin is available at: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/elections/electoralregistration.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Advertising

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much his Department has spent on advertising in each of the last two years.

George Hollingbery: The total advertising expenditure by the department for each of the last two years is: 2018/19: £02017/18: £93,000  These figures exclude campaigns run as part of the Government’s GREAT programme, recruitment advertising costs (not held centrally), and advertising costs by UK Export Finance which is a separate legal entity to the Department for International Trade.

Free Trade: Thailand

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent steps he has taken to enable free trade with Thailand after the UK leaves the EU.

George Hollingbery: The UK Government is working with the Government of Thailand to address existing trade barriers between the two countries, and to consider options for strengthening our bilateral trading relationship in the future. The Secretary of State for International Trade visited Thailand from 4-6 April 2018. Dr Fox discussed the UK’s future trading relationship with Thailand, emphasising the importance of an open economy and transparent and predictable regulatory environment. Total trade in goods and services between the UK and Thailand was £6.3bn to the end of 2018, an increase of 6.1% from 2017.

World Trade Organisation

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what (a) staff and (b) funding the Government provides to the World Trade Organisation.

George Hollingbery: The UK’s assessed contribution to the WTO for 2019 is 7,446,595 Swiss francs. The UK also supports and funds several projects, such as those run by the International Trade Centre (a joint agency of the WTO and UNCTAD), the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility, the Enhanced Integrated Framework (a multi-donor trust fund) and the WTO Standards and Trade Development Facility which all focus on helping developing countries engage and participate in global trade. The UK funding for these projects is £55.25 million between 2016 and 2023. In addition, the United Kingdom is represented at the World Trade Organization by Julian Braithwaite, our Ambassador and Permanent Representative in Geneva. The Ambassador and his team play an active role in the work of the WTO, which is a member-led organisation. Since July 2016 the Government has increased its resourcing for the UK Mission to the UN and Other International Organisations in Geneva.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

St George's Day

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the contribution of St. George's Day to England's economy.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the contribution of St. Patrick's Day to the economy of Northern Ireland.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the contribution of St. Andrew's Day to Scotland's economy.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the contribution of St. David's Day to the Welsh economy.

Michael Ellis: The Department has made no specific estimate of the economic contributions of the National days.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Secondment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many civil servants in his Department have been seconded to (a) the Department for Exiting the European Union and (b) the Department for International Trade in each of the last three years.

Margot James: In the Civil Service, a ‘secondment’ is a transfer to an external organisation, whereas the movement of staff to another Government department is usually referred to as a loan. We do not hold information centrally on the host departments of all secondees/loans from our department. However, we do hold a record of some employees on loan for whom we had to retrieve salary costs over the last 3 years: YearDepartment for Exiting the European UnionDepartment for International Trade2017202018022019 (to present)03

Internet: Security

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the security of age-verification check databases.

Margot James: All providers of age verification (AV) services must comply with data protection laws. In addition, ahead of the introduction of mandatory age verification on online pornography sites, the regulator, the British Board for Film Classifcation, has created a voluntary certification scheme, the Age-verification Certificate (AVC), which will assess the data security standards of AV providers. Age verification solutions which offer these robust data protection conditions will be certified following an independent assessment and will carry the BBFC's new green 'AV' symbol. Details will also be published on the BBFC’s age-verification website, ageverificationregulator.com.

Sports: Environment Protection

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the environmental footprint of large sporting events.

Mims Davies: The government, along with major event partners, is committed to embedding sustainability as a key pillar of the planning and delivery of major sporting events. We also welcome the innovation that the sector is driving such as the degradable seaweed pouches used at this year’s London Marathon instead of plastic water bottles. UK Sport is working alongside several events, providing support as they look into environmentally friendly delivery options. The upcoming Netball World Cup is currently undergoing an environmental review across all workstreams, with findings not only being used to make changes to the event, but also will be fed back into the newly formed sector working group, which alongside staff from UK Sport, consists of athletes, venues and NGB representatives. UK Sport is also conducting work to place a range of ethical policies at the heart of all events delivered with government support, with environmental policies and considerations sitting as a core element of that work.

Culture: Finance

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to (a) protect and (b) increase funding for arts and culture outside London.

Michael Ellis: We are committed to promoting the Arts and culture outside London, and continue to work closely with the Arts Council to ensure that the whole of the country has access to funding for arts and cultural programmes. Last year 70% of Arts Council's total funding was awarded outside London. Between 2018 and 2022 an additional £170 million of National Portfolio Organisation funding will be invested outside London. In addition, the recent Cultural Development Fund has seen £20 million of funding shared between five towns and cities outside of the capital, while programmes such as Creative People and Places and the City of Culture programme continue to focus outside of the capital. DCMS has also recently announced an additional £4 million of funding for the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund. In 2019/20, 35 museums and galleries will benefit from this funding which aims to improve audience experience. Over 80% of regional museums outside London will receive money from this Fund.

Business: ICT

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that businesses have the required IT infrastructure in place to enable a paperless society.

Margot James: The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), published in July 2018, sets out the Government’s strategy for ensuring that 15 million premises are able to connect to full fibre by 2025, with a nationwide network established by 2033. Since the publication of the FITR, full fibre coverage is now available to 7% of UK premises, up from 4% around 12 months ago. The Better Broadband Voucher Scheme, open for applications until 31st December 2019, is available to those who are unable to obtain a connection speed above 2Mbps. The Scheme can support access to satellite broadband, or fixed 4G or wireless connections in some locations. The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, launched in March 2018 as part of Local Full Fibre Networks programme, enables small to medium sized businesses to claim a voucher worth up to £2,500, and residents to claim a voucher worth up to £500 as part of a group project. DCMS has convened the Digital Enterprise Delivery Group, part of the Digital Skills Partnership, to bring together a range of industry stakeholders to improve the digital capabilities of SMEs and charities. BEIS’s £9 million Business Basics programme, announced as part of the UK’s Industrial Strategy, is testing innovative ways of encouraging SMEs to take up technology (such as accountancy or CRM software), as well as business practices that can boost productivity. Be the Business, supported by up to £18.6m Government funding, is a business-led independent charity that is identifying practical steps to enable the adoption of technology and enable best-practice leadership and management techniques.

Prime Minister

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Departmental Responsibilities

Chris Ruane: To ask the Prime Minister, when she plans to appoint a new Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa.

Mrs Theresa May: My Honourable Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Andrew Murrison MP) has been appointed as a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.